Fighting to Love
by ProfEvans
Summary: Featuring the Marauders and the Marauderettes: Lily, Alice, Marlene, and Hayden Follows their final year at Hogwarts, finding love, discovering trauma, and relying on friendships to survive. BlacKinnon Jily Reyden *Nominated for MARAUDER MEDALS 2016 BEST WIP*
1. Chapter 1 - The Way To a New Beginning

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

"Awooooo," Hayden called as she walked into the Head's Dormitory. Ever since second year, that had been her favorite greeting to her best friend, Head Girl, Lily Evans. It's true that Lily hadn't quite figured out how to be herself again, but Hayden decided at the beginning of the school year that the best thing she could do was be normal for her friend. Although, Hayden's version of "normal" really didn't match with most people.

Lily was trying, and she was definitely doing better than she had been. Regrouping after the loss of your parents couldn't be easy. Hayden couldn't even imagine losing one of her parents, let alone both at the same time. Death Eaters. The people that were more monster than human. They broke her friend. That's why Hayden was going to be an Auror like her cousins. Death Eaters couldn't be allowed to walk free. They all deserved to be thrown in Azkaban with the dementors. When they were left free, people died. People who didn't deserve it, like Lily's parents.

That August, after their perfect summer, Lily's parents were coming to visit Hayden and Lily at Hayden's home for the first time when the Death Eaters had struck. Their train was overtaken by death eaters, all the Muggles aboard found dead other than Lily's parents. Hayden's father, Ignatius, was a member of the exclusive Order of the Phoenix, and was one of the first on the scene when the Dark Mark had been sighted.

When he made it back home, Lily and Hayden were crying, waiting to hear of their deaths. The girls were more like sisters than friends since their first year. They spent every holiday together, which meant that the Prewetts and the Evans basically shared their daughters. The Prewetts had custody over the girls for the holidays, and the Evans got them for the first two and a half months of every summer. Hayden was forced home without Lily for the last two weeks of August, but they still met in Diagon Alley to buy school supplies during that time. This year was different.

This year, the girls spent the summer with the Prewetts, and the Evans were supposed to get them for the holidays. The girls talked the previous June, and decided that their last summer home from Hogwarts should be simply magical. Plus, as Hayden's family were Pureblooded, it would mean a lot more visits with classmates. They ran into the infamous Marauders more than once, which Lily tolerated only by talking with Lupin.

The best part was when they went to visit the Weasleys. Molly was Hayden's cousin, and had married her husband during Hayden's first year at Hogwarts. Every time they visited the couple, the highlight of the visit was playing with their little boys. Bill was seven, Charlie was five, and little Percy was almost two. They already knew he was going to be annoying; he could barely talk but was fascinated with the oddest and most boring of things. He was simply too good at following the rules. All the boys were little handfuls of sunshine though.

But, all good things must come to an end. The last two weeks of August were upon the girls, but they decided to make it as magical as possible. So, the Evans were supposed to come and stay for the next two weeks before they all went to King's Cross Station together to send them back to Hogwarts for the last time.

"Girls, they weren't there," Ignatius said huskily. The two redheads looked at each other with smiles, relieved. They didn't even notice the tears in his eyes. "No, girls, I doubt it means they're alright."

"What? But if they weren't there…" Lily responded immediately. Surely if they weren't there it could only mean they had missed their train.

"They must have missed their train, right?" Hayden finished for her friend. It was incredible how in sync these girls were. If it hadn't been for the fact he'd been there for the birth of his daughter, Ignatius could have sworn they were twins.

"I'm afraid we found their things, but not them. If they weren't there, it means the Death Eaters have them," he informed his daughters, trying not to let the tears fall. The girls needed him to be strong for them. Now, more than ever, since they suddenly had only one set of parents to rely on. Poor Lily; now she really was like his daughter, with no parents to call her own.

Their reaction was exactly what he'd been expecting, and fearing. Lily broke down into sobs while Hayden put her arms around her sister-in-spirit, letting tears stream down her face silently. Ignatius fought back his tears once more and cleared his throat.

"I'm going to be gone a lot until we find them. The Order, we're looking. If we find them soon enough, they could still be fine," he said brusquely as Hayden nodded and Lily continued shaking and sobbing in her friend's arms.

For almost a week, members of the Order searched. Lucretia, Hayden's mother, had taken the girls to Diagon Alley alone for the first time. She owled Sirius, Hayden's favorite cousin, to join them. He helped cheer Hayden up a little, but Lily still only tolerated the Marauder.

In all honesty, Sirius Black had no idea how to help. He was the charming one, or so everyone said. Everyone other than Lily Evans, that is. He wasn't the sensitive one. He felt sure he should have brought James and Remus, his two best friends, along to cheer the girls up. The only problem with that was Lily still seemed to hate James. Then again, she hardly liked him any better. The only reason she even pretended to like him was because of Hayden.

Ever since they were little, Sirius and Hayden had been close. They both hated all of the Black family get-togethers, but were forced to sit through them anyway. As such, they learned to play pranks to entertain themselves, yet somehow, he always ended up in trouble for them. How could he, of all people, help when both girls were in so much pain though? He figured his best chance was to make stupid little jokes with Hayden, and hope he could get a chuckle out of her.

So that's what he did the entire time in Diagon Alley. Even Lily giggled a few times, which is how he earned his invitation to accompany them back to the Prewett Manor. When they arrived, he knew he shouldn't still be there. Ignatius was meeting with Dumbledore. As Sirius turned to leave, Hayden grabbed his hand. They'd always been good at silent communication, so as he looked into her rich, brown eyes, he understood what he had to do. He gave her a hug, and walked to the fireplace, which he used to floo himself home to the Potter Mansion, where he lived with James' family.

Lily never even noticed. When her bright, green eyes were met by Dumbledore's piercing, blue ones, she clamped down on Hayden's hand and froze. She knew in that instant that her worrying was over. However, so was her family.

Lily felt empty. Hollow. She didn't even hear Dumbledore's explanation of how they found her parents, how they were tortured several times, or how they had finally, mercifully, been killed with the Killing Curse. All she heard was a mumbling buzz that matched the tone of his voice.

Hayden, unfortunately, heard it all. Tears once again rolled down her cheeks as she stood silently, waiting for the explanation to be over. When he was done speaking, Dumbledore and her father went into another room to make funeral preparations. When she realized she had lost feeling in the hand that Lily was holding several minutes ago, Hayden turned to her sister, wanting to find a way to help. She tried to free it so she could hug the girl, who didn't have a single tear in her eyes.

If James Potter and Sirius Black hadn't arrived by floo at that moment, she never would have gotten free. Instead, the boys helped pry her hand free. Unfortunately, losing her grip on Hayden also seemed to make Lily lose her ability to stand. Lily collapsed forward onto the young man standing there. James caught her in awe; the girl he'd loved for years having just fallen onto him. As he held her, James saw her eyes. They were empty. Those brilliant, green eyes he loved always were full of fire or joy, but now, there was nothing.

After she was freed, Hayden turned to her beloved cousin and just stared at him with tears still running down her face. He met her eyes with his swirling gray ones, nodded, and embraced her. She'd never known Sirius to be so serious before, but there never was a very good reason for him to be. Thankfully, now that she needed it, he could actually be a very good shoulder to cry on.

Two days later, Dumbledore presided over the funeral for the Evans parents. Hayden let tears fall one last time. The Marauders came and stood in the back. Lily stood shell-shocked once again. Petunia, Lily's older sister, stood next to Lily only out of necessity. The blonde leaned into a whale of a man standing next to her. Finally, around three-quarters through the ceremony, Lily started to cry. She managed to stay silent until it was over. As soon as it was, she looked to her big sister and started to speak, but she was cut off before she even began.

"Freak! Stay away from me. You caused this. ALL of it. I never want to see you again. You killed our parents. I won't let you kill me too!" Petunia screeched, before walking away with her human walrus. After those harsh words, Lily began to sob. Always one for the dramatic saves, James was suddenly in front of her. Hayden was pretty sure Lily wasn't aware that it was him, but was still pleased when her sister started crying into his shoulder as he held her. Hayden even began to grin for the first time since Diagon Alley.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Hayden," said a male quietly from behind her. It was a warm voice, although a little rough, as though it was used to scream often. Hayden knew and loved that voice. She turned to meet Remus Lupin's green eyes, searching for the golden flecks in them that she loved so much.

"You know my parents are still fine, right?" she grinned with a watery chuckle. He gave her a look that was usually reserved for Sirius.

"Yes, I do, but I also know how much you loved Lily's parents. And, I don't think she'd hear me at the moment anyway," he replied, with a glance at the other redhead, who was still sobbing into James' shoulder. Although, he'd now sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

"You're probably right," Hayden smirked, looking at her friend sitting on her supposed arch-nemesis' lap. She shook her head to clear it of images of a healed Lily, screaming at Hayden for letting her sit in James Potter's lap, and looked back into Remus' eyes. For some reason, they always reminded her of September. When the leaves were still green, but just a few started turning gold and red. As they stared into each other's eyes for just a few moments, Hayden got butterflies in her stomach. He started leaning toward her and they all took off, flying in circles around her gut. The moment she'd been waiting two years for was finally about to happen…and he hugged her tightly. Disappointed, she hugged him back, taking in his rich scent of parchment and chocolate.

The rest of August, Hayden was quiet and reserved, trying to be there for Lily. After Lily finished her time fulfilling her Head Girl duties with the prefects, she stormed into their usual compartment, where Hayden had filled Marlene McKinnon and Alice Prewett (yes, ANOTHER cousin) in on their August. Marlene just froze, unsure what was happening. Alice tried to pretend she didn't notice anything. But Hayden had never been good at hiding her emotions and she was shocked to see so much fire in Lily's eyes! They weren't as passionate as she was used to seeing them, but there was so much more there than she'd seen in the past two weeks that she was sure she was imagining it.

"WHAT was he THINKING?!" Lily yelled. The other three girls all shared a look, two pairs of blue eyes meeting Hayden's brown ones. Hayden gave them a small shrug and looked back at Lily. "James Potter is the Head Boy. He knows NOTHING about being a Prefect, let alone a Head Boy! He's going to be useless. It's all going to be up to me," continued Lily, no longer yelling, passion in her voice fading.

That was the moment that Hayden decided Lily needed everyone to be normal around her, to help coax her back into her own state of normalcy. James Potter was being himself, she was sure, and infuriated Lily, as usual. It worked. Silently reminding herself to thank James later, Hayden grinned at her blue-eyed friends, who were clueless of the epiphany she'd just had and were actually becoming quite worried about Lily's growing lifelessness.

The rest of September, Lily was the same. Mostly hollow, mostly vacant eyes, only responding after hearing her name repeatedly. However, occasionally, Hayden or Sirius would make her giggle or James would make her yell. Hayden begged Sirius to make all the Marauders hang out with the girls more often in the second week of lessons to see if it would help. He just smirked at her and said something about her trying to get closer to Moony, which she ignored tactfully. Okay, she'd punched him in the arm and told him to shut up already, but the point was, her plan was working.

Having Lily's best friends and worst nightmares combined and surrounding her all the time was fixing her. It was the first weekend of October, and Hayden no longer felt like she was talking to Lily the Inferi. Now, while it still wasn't Lily, she could at least see Lily starting to peek through.

The best part wasn't even Hayden's doing. James and Lily were sharing a dormitory. Lily was stuck at all times with the person she found more annoying than any other. Of course, Hayden, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Marlene were around most of the time, often accompanied by Alice, but there were still times when it was just James and Lily. Hayden was hoping that Lily was starting to realize that James wasn't so bad, because if not, Hayden wouldn't be able to spend as much time with the Marauders. Hayden did her best to ignore that possibility as she climbed the stairs to Lily's room.

"Awoooooo," she said again, before opening Lily's bedroom door. Lily looked at her with a very small grin.

"This month is Halloween," Lily stated simply, before asking a question that was so Lily Evans it made Hayden's heart leap for the return of her friend, and gave her eyes a certain mischievous twinkle that Lily had come to fear.

"They're planning something, aren't they?"


	2. Chapter 2 - Howling Secrets

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

Sunday morning, Hayden woke up quite proud of herself. Lily had been herself for a bit without needing prompting. There was definite progress being made, and it was her plan that was doing it. She quickly got dressed in some muggle clothes, including a simple pine green long sleeved shirt, that showed her elegant hourglass figure, and a pair of jeans that she'd had for years. Throwing on her shoes, she ran down the stairs, anxious to get to breakfast. On her way through the common room however, she noticed a new sign up on the notice board. It was the announcement of the first Hogsmeade trip the next weekend. Even more excited, Hayden started skipping to the portrait hole without paying much attention to her surroundings, which is why she managed to skip right into a fellow lion.

"Oh crap! I am so sorry!" she said, picking herself up off the floor. She reached her hand out to help the poor soul she had knocked over, and finally saw who it was. She was suddenly a bright red that matched her hair, as she mumbled, "Oh, Remus. I was just heading to breakfast."

The young man chuckled as he accepted her help, trying to ignore her curves. "Did Sirius steal all your food again last night?"

"No. Lily's just so much better and then I saw that Hogsmeade is in a week, and I just got super excited and went into my own little world," babbled Hayden, trying to hide her nerves as they walked through the portrait hole. Remus was ever the gentleman, going through first before turning to help her through. She didn't need the help, of course, but if he offered Hayden had never seen a good reason to refuse.

Remus had always thought that Hayden was adorable when she was flustered and he couldn't hide his grin. He tried to focus on something else, "Lily's doing better?"

"Last night she realized that it's October, the month of Halloween," Remus raised his eyebrows, waiting for the rest of the story, "She just looked at me and said, 'They're planning something, aren't they?'" finished Hayden, doing her best Lily imitation. Remus couldn't help but chuckle. The poor girl had been through so much, he was really glad that she had a friend like Hayden around who knew her well enough to know that something so small meant she was getting better. Lily deserved friends like Hayden. Then again, so did Hayden, Remus mused to himself, remembering back to second year.

It was around the same time of the year as now: early October. It was the weekend after the last full moon, and Remus had a number of new scratches on his arms and legs. The last transformation had been a really painful one. Remus was on his way to lunch where he was to meet the rest of the marauders when a flurry of red appeared and shoved him into an empty classroom. He hadn't even gained his bearings when he heard the door slam shut and lock.

He looked up toward the door to see Lily Evans and Hayden Prewett chattering at each other. They seemed to be in a heated debate, but were muttering too quietly for him to hear. Suddenly, Hayden rolled her eyes and pranced forward to the desk he was leaning on. Remus looked up into her warm brown eyes cautiously. He was afraid she might know his secret, until he met her eyes. They were so deep and had so much love in them, it was like looking into her heart. All thoughts of anything but Hayden and her eyes drifted away for a few seconds.

"Remus Lupin," she started slowly, with Lily at her back, closer to the door in case he decided to try and run. She took a deep breath before continuing, and falling into her nervous babble, "We've noticed that your mom always seems to get worse at the full moon each month and you only go and visit her for one night, but then you usually come back with new cuts and scrapes, like that one that runs up your arm right there. That wasn't there before you went to visit her so either she beats you or you don't really go to see her. So Lily and I have been talking, and last night I decided that we should just ask you if you're a werewolf, because we've both done a lot of reading on them and you always seem to look sicker before you go and visit her too, so we think it would probably make sense if you were. And if you are, of course we wouldn't say anything because people can be so mean. I don't see what the big deal would be, I mean it's not like you volunteered for it or anything. But you haven't told us so you must not want people to know if you are, so we won't tell anyone. So are you?"

Her eyes had been floating around his while she babbled, first looking just to one side, then to just the other, then to the ceiling, until she had finally asked. After she let the question go, she had no problems meeting his eyes. In fact, Hayden seemed to be searching for his answer in his eyes. Remus was in shock. He met her eyes as she searched his, trying to process everything she had just said.

She didn't see what the big deal would be? How? And they were both still in the room with him? And Hayden was looking him in the eyes right now? Remus lost himself in his questions as she waited. Hayden was never known for her patience though, so after maybe five seconds, she spoke again.

"I mean, you're not mad are you? I just thought we should talk to you instead of behind your back. If you aren't that's fine. We just…want to know?"

Looking into her eyes, which were still as deep and warm and full of love as ever, he took a deep breath and replied evenly, "Yes."

"Oh Remus," Lily finally spoke up. She ran over to him and gave him a huge hug while Hayden kept watching his eyes. He was shocked, that was obvious.

"You guys don't hate me?" asked Remus, still speaking evenly, but it was a purposeful even now, like if he didn't focus on speaking, nothing would come out at all. His heart stopped as he saw Hayden's eyes fill with anger. It had been too good to be true, of course they hated him. He was a werewolf after all, it was only to be expected.

"REMUS LUPIN! IF YOU EVER SUGGEST WE HATE YOU AGAIN, I WILL DISOWN YOU! DON'T YOU DARE SUGGEST SUCH TERRIBLE THINGS!" she yelled. Hayden looked over to Lily and through their form of silent communication, understood that she needed to calm down before continuing, so she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Remus was still standing in shock, staring at the beautiful, young redhead. "Remus, Lily and I could never hate you. It's not your fault that this happened. And if you ever need to talk, we're around."

That was all she said before she turned and unlocked the door. Hayden waltzed out of the room as if nothing had happened. Lily was still standing by him though.

"You know Remus, you really should wipe that look off your face before lunch or the other boys will think you're guilty of something," suggested Lily quietly, meeting his eyes with her own shockingly green ones, before she too left the room as though her and her best friend hadn't just found out he was a werewolf. He managed to catch up to Lily and walk to lunch with her, but he couldn't help but smirk at the quiet howl of greeting Hayden gave her as Lily sat down.

"Remus?" he heard, snapping out of the memory and shaking his head.

"What was that, Hayden? I got lost in my thoughts," explained Remus, as Hayden grinned. She actually loved the way he could get so carried away with things, like thinking or reading, that he could entirely tune the world out.

"That's fine. I was just wondering if you thought we could all meet up in Hogsmeade? I'm dragging Lily there whether or not she likes it. It'll be good for her. But, I think it'd be better for her if we ended at the Three Broomsticks all together." That was the closest Hayden had ever managed to get to asking Remus to go to Hogsmeade with her. It wasn't that she was afraid of rejection. It was that she was afraid of making things weird for Sirius. Sirius had a terrible home life, and as she was family, she knew all about it. Hayden would rather have died than have made anything hard for him here where he had a decent family.

"Yea, I think so. If Sirius survives the week at least."

"Is James having early morning practices again?"

"Yep! And you know how he feels about mornings…" Remus replied good-naturedly. Neither of them were on the quidditch team with James and Sirius, but Marlene was. The funny part was that while their quidditch captain was a morning person, neither Marlene nor Sirius were. They were less inclined to mornings than Hayden was, if that was even possible. Yet, they were the ones who had been stuck with morning quidditch practices for years now.

"At least it's morning practices. I know Sirius hates them, but that means that James will have some free time at night, and with McGonagall's exam coming up, I could really use all the help I can get," Hayden said, looking for the bright side in the situation like always. James had been tutoring Hayden in Transfiguration since fifth year. It wasn't that Hayden was bad at it, she just wasn't up to NEWT, or even OWL, standards on her own. But she'd been determined to be an auror for years now, so she had used Sirius to get his best friend to tutor her. Now it was just what they did, and she loved it. She loved getting to learn with a guy that made her laugh and wouldn't tell anyone how bad she was. Hayden loved Sirius, but he wasn't the best secret keeper all the time and she was never quite sure what was safe and what wasn't.

They walked the rest of the way to the Great Hall together in a comfortable silence. They arrived at the Gryffindor table to a silent Lily and James. Remus sat next to James as Hayden sat next to Lily.

"Hey Potter," snapped Hayden, using his last name just to make an impression. It worked. He looked at her guiltily, making her wonder what he had done to look so guilty, but not concerning herself with it at that exact moment. "You. Me. Library. Wednesday night. Bring your wand. You game?"

James relaxed as he realized she didn't know anything about what had happened in the head dorm that morning. He replied nonchalantly, "Yea, sure thing Prewett."

Unfortunately for both James and Lily, his act at nonchalance was not enough to make Hayden forget his guilty look. "So what were you looking all guilty about? See Lily naked or something?" Both of them flushed immediately and Hayden looked from James, to Lily, to Remus who was the only one to meet her eye and they both burst out laughing.

"What's so funny, Wildfire?" Sirius asked his cousin as he, Peter, Alice, and Marlene joined the group.

"Why don't you ask your Prongsie-poo, Stormy?" she retorted through giggles, using her childhood nickname for him. So he turned to look at James, ignoring her insinuation at a relationship with his best friend…again.

"Well, I um, I uh, well Lily was, Lily erm, and I uh, so then she, and I and … yeah," the head boy stated as though it was an actual statement. Sirius merely grinned in glee. If James was this awkward about it, it had to be something good.

"TELL ME PRONGSIE-POO! TELL ME, MY LOVE! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED WHILST I'VE BEEN AWAY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, causing even Slytherins to look their way.

"Black. Shut it. I was getting out of the shower when Potter walked into our bathroom without knocking. I wrapped a towel around me quickly and screamed and he tripped over his own feet as he screamed and ran out. WE haven't spoken since. And I don't expect that to change any time soon," Lily chastised, while still bright red. All seven of them froze, in awe of the fire they saw in her eyes again and the harshness in her voice. Then the six who were not present for the shower incident realized what she had said and burst out laughing. Lily was definitely making a comeback.

The rest of the day passed with continual amazement for Lily's friends as she was more herself than she had been since August. Even better, she didn't seem to hate James the way she had the previous six years. In truth, during the time where she had been traumatized, she had realized that James actually cared for her. Lily had always assumed it was the chase, or to make her a trophy, or to embarrass the living daylights out of her, so learning that it was none of those things, but actual emotions that had been driving him to annoy her, made a difference. She decided she could give him a chance, after all he and the marauders had been there for her as much as her own friends had been in the past month.

Wednesday night's tutoring session arrived much sooner than any of them had expected, thanks to Lily's huge step toward recovery. She was still seen gazing off lifelessly more than she had done in the past, but she didn't need a cause to be herself anymore, so it was a win in her friends' minds. The lack of worrying had made the three days fly by, so suddenly Hayden was somehow running late to meet James in the library. He was leaning back in his chair at the desk in their usual alcove when she came flying in, her hair whipping everywhere.

"You know you can't get detention for being late to meet me, right Prewett?" James asked with a chuckle. He had never known anyone to be so uptight about being on time while also being so prone to being late to everything. Hayden was huffing for breaths, so she just stuck her tongue out at him, like a petulant child, making him laugh even harder. "Think you would have been on time if you'd been meeting Moony?"

Hayden froze, bright red. She was going to kill Sirius. She was going to look him straight in his stormy grey eyes and tell him this was for telling before she did it. He knew this was the biggest secret of her entire life! She only moved again to blink and look at James when he chuckled again.

"You aren't as good at hiding things as you think you are," he smirked, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You won't tell, will you? I couldn't live with myself if I did anything that would impact the freaky bond that you marauders have. Stormy needs you guys more than he'd ever admit and as much as I like Remus, I couldn't risk getting in the way of you four."

James simply rolled his eyes, nodded, and pulled out her Transfiguration textbook, setting it on the desk where she was supposed to sit. Hayden nodded back and sat down, taking out her wand. She was about to start practicing when he caught her eye.

"You know you matter to him just as much as us marauders, right? Padfoot, he may have chosen us, but you're the only one he didn't _need_ to choose. You're the only one he thinks will ever fully understand him. Maybe he's right, I don't know. But I do know that he'd want you to take a chance at being happy, even if it could somehow put the marauders at risk of falling apart, which you _should_ know is something that could never happen."

Hayden just stared into his hazel eyes as he said it, so simply, as though she should have known all of it all along. She hadn't. So now it was all clicking, even though she put it in the back of her mind so she could practice her wand work. Maybe she could have a chance at a relationship with her favorite werewolf. Maybe it wasn't as big a risk as she always thought.

She pushed the wonderful thoughts aside and focused on the instructions to change her eye brow colors. Hayden had to read the page five times to make sure she understood everything she had to do fully. She waved her wand, and froze, staring behind the book shelves James was positioned in front of. He furrowed his eyebrows and turned to see what she was looking at.

Regulus was sneaking past the library. It was obvious if you saw him that he was trying to be secretive, as he kept looking all around him trying to make sure the coast was clear. James' first thought was how obvious it was that this boy hadn't been trained by his big brother. Sirius could sneak better than even James could, without tipping off a soul. The trick was to act like you were allowed and knew what you were doing.

As James sat and mentally berated the sixth year, Hayden had started moving. There was no way she was going to let her cousin, one of her favorite's on the Black side no less, do something stupid. She was all the way across the library by the time James noticed she had moved. He switched to yelling at himself as he jogged to catch up with her, forgetting their things at the desk. If something happened to Hayden, Padfoot would never forgive him. But if Regulus did something to Hayden? Well, James didn't even know what might happen. He was pretty sure Sirius would have a break down though.

Sirius didn't have a good relationship with any of the Black relatives other than the Prewetts, because they were the only family that chose equality over blood status. But James knew he missed his little brother, Regulus. When they were little, back before they understood what their family believed in, the two had been inseparable. As Sirius grew up, he began to believe differently from his parents, while Reg followed their beliefs like he was supposed to. They began to drift apart, and it killed Sirius. Last year, when Sirius decided he was done with his family and moved in with the Potters, he had cried over it to James. He had sobbed about leaving his little brother behind with them and how his little brother was so different from when they were kids. Sirius had also vowed to James that he wasn't going to give up on Reg until he had the dark mark on his arm. Only then would he accept that they had grown up to follow two different paths.

When he caught up to Hayden, James had to put his hand on her mouth as he let her know he was there. She was always a jumpy one, and that was the only way he could keep her from alerting Reg to their presence. She glared at him before rolling her eyes and continuing on. Baby Black was leading them to the dungeons. He slipped into one of the empty potions classrooms and they crept to its doorway as silently as they could. They could hear two voices, both of which were very familiar to Hayden, both of which belonged to her cousins.

"The Dark Lord has requested that you prove that you aren't a traitor like your brother."

"What can I do?"

"Find a way to prove that your family doesn't matter to you. He wants you, we all do, to join his ranks, but only if you can be trusted."

It was Evan. Evan Rosier. One of the nastiest of Hayden's cousins. Bellatrix was the worst, but Evan was a close second. He was also the main reason Regulus had ever decided to let his brother go. Hayden wasn't positive, but she was pretty sure she had seen a glimpse of his mark over the summer. If he already had one, then he was even more dangerous and insane than she had realized. And now he was trying to convince Reg? Next it would be little Lizzie! Hayden almost giggled at the thought of her youngest cousin with a dark mark, but froze when she heard the next words come from Regulus.

"I'll kill him if I must. Whatever I can do to please the Dark Lord will be done."

Hayden looked at James, shaking her head in denial while tears filled her eyes. He just looked at her with sad eyes. She knew she was going to lose it and give them away if she stood there a moment longer, so she ran. She ran from her cousins. She ran from James. She ran to the only place she could think of where she could process what she'd heard without answering questions from James or Sirius.


	3. Chapter 3 - A Harsh Awakening

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

When Sirius found her, Hayden was licking her bowl clean. 'Yep,' he thought to himself, 'Always a sucker for the pudding. Especially chocolate pudding.' And sure enough as she set the bowl down, he saw a spot of chocolate left on her nose. Grinning at her predictability and messiness, he shook his head no to the dozen or so house elves that were fawning over him to try and bring him some food.

"Wildfire, really? I know you aren't as brave as me, but running for chocolate?" he teased as he walked over to her. He caught a hint of her death glare, even though she was looking at the floor. He swiped his finger across the tip of her nose, before licking the chocolate pudding off his finger.

"Ewwwwww, Stormy!" Hayden giggled. It didn't matter how mad she was, somehow her cousin could always make her laugh. Even so, she wasn't ready to admit anything to him yet. "How'd you find me?"

"Prongs told me you had tears in your eyes when you ran off. You're pretty predictable, Wildfire. You always go for chocolate pudding."

"Do not."

"Fine. You usually go for chocolate pudding, but sometimes you prefer butterscotch."

Hayden frowned at the floor. He was her cousin. He wasn't supposed to know her _that_ well. She looked up at him, finally meeting his eyes. Looking into the swirling silver, she saw the hurt that made his eyes seem like it was about to storm in there.

The first time he'd looked that way in front of her, his mother had just rewarded Regulus for kicking a muggle child at the playground. She'd walked over to him and gave him her very biggest hug before asking, "So why are you all stormy?"

The question had made him laugh, so every time he'd been upset that year, she had called him "Stormy". She may have lost the purpose behind the name, but the name still stuck. And every time his eyes got all cold and stormy, she knew he was hurting.

"James told you what we overheard, didn't he?" Hayden asked her cousin, needing to know. He nodded without breaking eye contact with her. "You want some ice cream to clear the clouds away, Stormy?"

Sirius nodded like a child and house elves were soon delivering his sundae, which Hayden helped him eat. So much hurt had been caused without a single jinx or curse being cast, it was a wonder Voldemort hadn't won the world over already. No, Hayden corrected herself. He'd never win, because people like Stormy were always there to fight through the pain.

When Saturday morning finally arrived, Hayden was relieved. It had been a long two days and she really needed the day in Hogsmeade to enjoy herself. After her shower, she dressed in some jeans and a Gryffindor t-shirt that was more maroon than the typical, bold red, as that was the only color of red that didn't clash with her hair. Then, she ran down the stairs and skipped through the common room again.

"WILDFIRE!" Sirius screamed from the bottom of the staircase to the boys' dormitory, just before sprinting over to her at the portrait hole and tackling her.

"Sirius!" Hayden griped from the floor.

"What?" he replied cheerfully as he bounced back to his feet. He offered her a hand and continued speaking before Hayden had a chance to respond. "Wanna go wake up the heads with me?!"

She rolled her eyes at her overly enthusiastic cousin at the same time that she nodded and accepted his help. Sirius grinned and linked arms with her, before practically dragging her through the portrait hole.

"Really Stormy? You couldn't wait a second to let me exit on my own?"

"Nope!" he replied as he began skipping down the corridor to the head dorm portrait. Hayden was forced to skip along, not that she minded as she had been skipping earlier. Skipping to the head dorm was still strange for Hayden, as she had never actually realized that it existed before this year.

Their very first night back at Hogwarts this year had been very strange. Hayden, Alice, Marlene, and Lily had all gotten up from the Gryffindor table together to walk to the common room when Professor McGonagall had called Lily and James over. The other three shrugged and went on without Lily, figuring it was just head student stuff and they'd be up soon enough. When the three girls got to their dorm room though, Lily's trunk wasn't there. Hayden spent the whole night waiting for Lily to show up in the common room, finally falling asleep on one of the couches in front of the fire around 2 AM. When she got to breakfast the next morning, James explained it all.

McGonagall had called them over to discuss head student stuff, but not duties like the girls had assumed. Rather, it was to tell them about their special dorm room and bring them there. It was just like a mini Gryffindor common room when they walked through their portrait hole. There was a red couch facing a fireplace with two plush and super comfortable arm chairs on the sides of the couch. There were two desks in the room, on opposite sides of it, but each in their own mini alcove created by the two staircases. In between the staircases was a bathroom for them to share, and up the stairs were their bedrooms. The walls were a lovely beige color that warmed the room, especially with the red furniture.

It still looked that way as the cousins walked through the portrait hole. Hayden started walking toward the staircase on the right, which led to Lily's bedroom, when Sirius started screaming again.

"PRONGS! SUNFLOWER! WAKE UP! IT'S HOGSMEADE DAY!"

They immediately heard grumbling from the right, but only some chuckles from the left. James had already been awake and taken his shower. He had just been putting on his shirt as his best friend started yelling. He walked out to the platform outside his door and grinned down at the cousins.

"You know Lily will have your head for waking her up like that," he chuckled. Sirius merely shrugged, until he saw Lily appear at her platform. She was still in her pajamas with a robe thrown on over them and her hair was a mess. It was the glare that made him freeze though. If looks could kill, Sirius would have been killed five times over.

"Sirius Black. I should hex you right now," she grumbled, before trudging back into her room to brush her hair and get dressed. Sirius started sniggering, and Lily heard it, so she flicked her wand at him as she turned to close her door and thought, 'Levicorpus'. He screamed as her door shut and she finally let out a grin.

When Lily arrived at the bottom of her staircase, someone had let Sirius down already, but he was still glancing at her warily. Hayden saw the grin on Lily's face and knew it was going to be an amazing day.

Hayden was right. It was an amazing day. After breakfast, the eight Gryffindors walked to the village together, joking and laughing the whole way. They agreed to meet at the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer at 3 that afternoon and the boys went wherever they always went while the girls went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. That was the stop for Alice, as she had lost most of her quills already. But, since they were going anyway, Hayden decided she could use some new and fun ink. She and Lily looked over all the choices together and ended up picking out some lovely red and gold metallic inks. Marlene had spent the time looking at the fancy quills, like the eagle and peacock feathers, and daydreaming about which one she would get on the next visit.

After Scrivenshaft's, Marlene had dragged her friends into Gladrags Wizardwear. She _loved_ getting dressed up and doing hair and make-up, while the other girls were less enthusiastic about it. Hayden enjoyed it, but never really went as over the top as Marlene did. Alice merely endured it, but Lily hated it. The only reason Lily tolerated it at all was because Marlene had agreed to go with Lily to study in the library once a month. Unfortunately that meant she still had to endure days like this, when Marlene made her try on ridiculous outfits, just for "fun".

"That took forever. I need chocolate to make up for it," Lily grumbled as they left the shop. Marlene had indeed made them each try on at least one ridiculous outfit. Marlene and Hayden had each tried on six, and Alice had been forced into two. Hayden was so happy for all the fun she'd been having, and how normal Lily seemed, that she immediately accepted Lily's idea.

"TO HONEYDUKES!" she yelled, mimicking her favorite Black. The girls all giggled as they walked to their favorite sweets shop. Lily picked out three different kinds of fudge, while Hayden bought some sugar quills. Alice bought some salt water taffies to share with everyone later. Marlene eyed the exploding bon bons, but had spent most of her money on clothes and decided she didn't need them. As they left the shop, Alice waved good bye and the girls all told her to have fun with Frank.

Alice had been dating Frank Longbottom since fifth year. He was in the year above them, so this year she had been missing him terribly. When she found out about Hogsmeade, she had owled him straight away and they had made a date, starting at 2, so she was off to meet him.

While Alice left to meet Frank, Hayden insisted on stopping at Dervish and Banges. It was Sirius' birthday soon, on November 3rd, so she wanted to make sure she got him a good present now just in case she forgot later. Hayden had decided on buying him a sneakoscope, as he had told her that summer that he had problems trusting people. Sirius' entire family was full of dark wizards and witches, and they often lied to each other. Now, he was never sure if the person he was talking to was being honest or not. Hayden figured that while it couldn't tell him about lies, at least a sneakoscope could make him feel better about trusting the people he was around most often.

After their quick stop at Dervish and Banges, the girls had finished all of their errands. It was already 2:30, so they decided to just go back to the Three Broomsticks early. They were all chatting and meandering to their favorite bar when Hayden saw Regulus Black and Lizzie Rosier. Regulus was muttering to Lizzie and they seemed to be heading somewhere as if to meet someone. Seeing him whisper into her baby cousin's ear just made Hayden's blood boil. So, she took off after them. Lily and Marlene had no idea what was going on, but knew enough to know better than to let her go alone.

"REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK!" Hayden screamed as she approached her cousins. "How DARE you talk about your brother as if he means nothing to you?! Lizzie, walk away from him before he can turn on you too! And yes, Reg, I know what you told Evan. You both can do SO much better than to listen to him and his hatred! I know he's family, but so am I! And so is Sirius!" Hayden had tears in her eyes as she yelled at them, desperately hoping that she could keep them from becoming death eaters like Cole, the oldest of the Rosier siblings. Little Lizzie had always put her big brothers up on pedestals though, so Hayden doubted she could help. And Reg, well he had been following in the Rosier boys' footsteps for a while now, and Hayden doubted anything she had to say would ever change that.

"How dare you talk to a Black like that, you filthy blood traitor?!" Bellatrix Black shrieked with a flick of her wrist. Hayden felt as though a sharp razor blade had been slashed across her cheek, before she realized there was liquid rolling down it. Bella had cut her. Hayden was in shock at the sudden violence from a cousin she hadn't even heard apparate in.

"He earned it," she snarled. Lily and Marlene, who hadn't heard the death eaters now surrounding them apparate either, shivered at the magic filling the air. They could feel Hayden's warmth and love in it enough to know it was her magic, but mostly felt her anger and hatred.

None of them noticed Lizzie and Regulus retreat into the shadows. Hayden swirled on her foot to face her nastiest cousin.

"How'd he earn it, brat?! By telling you your parents deserve to die?" Bellatrix taunted, causing Hayden to see red. Hayden cast the first spell of the duel. She shot a stunning spell at her cousin, who easily blocked it, and colors started darting across her vision. Marlene and Lily were at her flanks, with their backs to hers each dueling their own death eater. But as there were four death eaters, and only three Gryffindors, they were quickly overpowered.

Lily and Marlene were held frozen under full body binds, while Hayden was splayed on her back in the center of the small circle, having been knocked over by an impediment jinx.

"Let's see how the blood traitor likes pain, shall we?" Bellatrix sneered, before casting the cruciatus curse. Hayden felt pain course through her body, as if her veins were on fire. She had never known such pain could exist until that moment as she lay writhing on the ground, screaming. Suddenly it stopped, and she could hear the death eaters cackling at her screams. She turned to see tears falling down Lily's face, before the pain radiated through her again.

Lily and Marlene stood and watched their friend writhe and squirm in pain helplessly, as her cousin continuously tortured her. They were both crying, and mentally pleading for it to end, or to find a way to break free of the spells holding them hostage. Lily felt the empty nothingness that had been in her chest for far too long start opening again.

Suddenly, Bellatrix was knocked off her feet. She whipped her head around to see Sirius running toward her with his wand out. She looked at her fellow death eaters before turning on the spot and vanishing with a crack.

The marauders had come to their rescue. Peter ran for help while the other three ran to the girls. James ran to Lily and caught her in a warm embrace as she fell forward with her sudden freedom. She couldn't help but sob into his shoulder, which he was glad to put to such a use as he stroked her beautiful auburn hair. Sirius glanced to see Remus heading for his cousin before deciding to go to Marlene. He held her as she shook, mentally cursing Bellatrix for causing this to be the first time he held his crush. Sirius blushed faintly as he realized he had just admitted he liked Marlene in a more than friend way to himself, but was thankfully distracted by her snuggling into his chest and clutching the back of his shirt.

Remus arrived at Hayden's side to see her still conscious. He searched her eyes for signs that she was broken by the torture, but she seemed to be all there.

"Remy, what are you looking for?" she asked softly. He broke down into tears at the sound of her voice. She was okay. Hayden was really there still. And he lunged for the girl, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I was so scared - " he started before being cut off by her scream. As Remus had hugged her, Hayden had felt a shooting pain fly through her torso, before the world went black.

Sirius froze at the sound of his cousin's scream, which he had ringing through his ears in any case, and looked to where she and Remus were. When he saw the red seep onto Remus' tan tee-shirt he looked at Marlene, to see her standing upright, waiting for him to let go of her. He tried to say thank you with his eyes before darting to his now unconscious and bleeding cousin.

Remus lay her down to see blood on his shirt, Sirius at his side, and Hayden out cold. He looked down to where she was bleeding, and saw a piece of bone poking through her tee shirt. Panic filled him. He had hurt her. He had caused her to pass out. He had made her bleed. She had survived the cruciatus curse only to be brought down by him.

"Padfoot, what'd I do? I didn't mean to- I was just hugging her Pads, I swear. And then she screamed. I- She's bleeding. What do we do? How could I have done this?" he moaned.

Sirius, however, was oblivious to the words coming from Remus. He took one look at the sickening sight of Hayden's ribcage and cast the hover charm he had once thought useless on her, and started jogging to the castle.

Remus stood helplessly frozen, and looked to James, who had walked Lily over to where Remus and now Marlene stood and passed her to Marlene.

"Moony, it wasn't you. Bellatrix must have done it. We should go catch up," he stated calmly, looking into Remus' green eyes. It was enough. Remus shook himself out of his panic, and walked after Sirius. James wrapped his arm around Lily's waist and followed, while Marlene quickly caught up to Remus and put her arm through his. They all needed support right now, and she was going to be there for him. Peter arrived at the scene with Madam Rosmerta to see his friends walking away. He shrugged and ran after them while she sent a patronus to the school, so the healer and headmaster would be waiting on the grounds for the marauders.


	4. Chapter 4 - Telling the Tale

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

"She was lucky she had you boys," Hayden heard Madam Pomfrey say. "She likely would have fainted from the pain of that break soon anyway. It's a very nasty break that I couldn't fully heal. The cut on her cheek won't scar, but I'm afraid her ribcage will. Cuts from the inside don't heal well with magic, unfortunately. And her rib is still broken, so no rough housing with the poor dear."

Hayden opened her eyes blearily to see all four marauders sitting around her bed, Sirius looking at the floor sheepishly, and Madam Pomfrey at the foot of her bed. She glanced around, wondering where her other friends were, and who Madam Pomfrey was talking about, and Peter noticed. He reached forward and grabbed her hand, a flurry of movement that caught everyone's attention. Looking down at her hand, she realized that she was in a hospital bed. She took her hand from Peter's to sit herself up more, gasping in pain when she tried moving. Suddenly, memories flew through her mind and she relived her torture.

None of them knew what was going through her head, only that she started shaking. Remus reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, and her shaking became a smaller vibration, something that Sirius alone noticed. If Remus actually had a calming effect on his cousin, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they ever actually got together. Madam Pomfrey bustled about, pouring potions into a cup and walking to the side of the bed where Peter sat and pushing him out of the way. She gave the shuddering girl the potion and told her to drink, which Hayden did without a word. The calming draught and sleepless dream potions worked their magic, just like they had on Lily and Marlene.

The three girls were still asleep in their beds when Alice and Frank ran into the hospital wing, completely out of breath. The four boys all started, looking over from their chairs to see what the noise was. They had spread out now, Remus and Peter were still at Hayden's side, but Sirius was at Marlene's bed, with his chair angled so he could easily look over to Hayden as well. James had moved over to Lily's bed, and had been staring at her intently, as if his gaze could wake her.

"What happened?" Alice gasped, still trying to catch her breath. "Madam Rosmerta said something happened."

The marauders shot furtive looks at each other. How could they have not thought to let the fourth Gryffindor girl know what had happened? Maybe not immediately, but at least after the three girls were in the Hospital Wing? As they made eye contact with each other, they somehow managed to assign Sirius the job of explaining it.

"Bellatrix Black showed up, along with Cole Rosier, Wilkes, and Lestrange. They froze Lily and Marlene and made them watch Bella torture Hayden. Lily and Marlene are just in shock, so Madam Pomfrey gave them some potions to help them sleep it off. Hayden is mostly fine, but she had a couple broken ribs, one of which was a really nasty break. When Remus hugged her, it popped through her skin and she passed out. She woke up a little while ago, but after she started shaking, Madam Pomfrey gave her the same potions as the other girls," he explained roughly, trying not to let tears overcome him again.

Alice looked around the room, trying unsuccessfully to blink tears back, at each of the girls and each marauder. Alice had always been the emotional one, crying at the muggle movies Lily had made them watch and at the romantic gestures, however idiotic, James had made over the years. Frank loved that about Alice though. Most guys would run from tears, but he loved how they made her blue eyes sparkle, and how they showed what was in her heart, usually without her permission. Peter, however, was one of the guys who ran from tears.

"Snacks?! I'm going to go get snacks. Everyone want some? Yea? Good!" he squeaked as he trotted from the room. The other marauders rolled their eyes at his inability to deal with emotion, while Frank continued to stand by his girlfriend and rub her back in slow, soothing circles. Alice kept looking between all three girls, trying to absorb it all and figure out what to do next. When she saw Marlene start to move, she thought it was simply the tears in her eyes messing with her vision, until she heard her friend groan.

The first thing Marlene saw as she slowly opened her eyes, was Sirius' silver-grey eyes peering into hers. As she blinked and readjusted, Alice and Frank came into view, as they had just walked over to her bedside. She stretched slowly, trying to remember everything that had happened. She had a fuzzy memory of death eaters in Hogsmeade, and of holding Sirius and crying into his chest while inhaling his unique scent of an earthy mud and pyrotechnic smoke mix. It wasn't a scent she'd ever imagined before, but once she had clung to him and breathed it in, she discovered she rather liked it. It was comforting somehow. Marlene shook her head to clear her mind of these bizarre thoughts, so she could focus on what had actually happened.

"Marls, are you okay?" Alice asked gently, as though hearing the question could send Marlene into a frenzy.

Finally, the memories flew back through her mind. The first gash that Hayden received. The curses Marlene had dodged. The pain of landing on a rock with her knee as she dropped to avoid a stunning spell. Her attempt at ignoring that pain to keep moving, but being too slow to evade the body binding curse that was thrown at her. Being forced to watch Hayden suffer. Hearing her shrieks and wanting to scream with her. Seeing Lily just as stuck as she was. The life leaving Lily's eyes as she cried.

Remembering how Lily had seemed to have been affected snapped Marlene back to the present. "Yes, Alice. I'm alright. Where's Lily? And Hayden?"

As she asked, James jumped to his feet hovering over the redhead, who started to groan. Lily was starting to stir, albeit slowly. Marlene jumped off her bed and nearly fell over with the accompanying head rush. Sirius was there though, and caught her and supported her so that while she saw nothing but black, his earthy scent soothed and grounded her, and when she could see again, she opened her eyes to his grey ones peering at her with concern. He started to make a move to push her back to her bed, and butterflies flew through her stomach.

"Lily," she said out loud, to her surprise. Marlene had been meaning to mentally remind herself that she had a reason for getting out of bed in the first place, and her reminder had apparently just popped out of her mouth.

When Sirius was the only thing to keep Marlene from falling to the floor, he'd planned to put her back in bed and make her wait there until Madam Pomfrey gave her the all clear to start walking. However, after Lily's name popped out of her mouth, he understood what she needed, but that didn't mean she was walking alone. She _had_ just woken up after all. So he put his arm around her waist, ignoring the way his heart seemed to pump a little quicker and a little louder, and started walking her across the room to Lily's side. When she opened her mouth to insist she could do it alone, he just gave her a look, and she gave up. It was a look that said, "My way. No highway option". A look that told her there was no point in arguing. A look that made Marlene picture Hayden's face every time she decided to do something ridiculous with the marauders and they had tried to talk her out of it.

By the time Sirius and Marlene made it over to Lily's bed, a trek which James had watched as much as he could, given his problems with tearing his eyes away from Lily, her green eyes had finally fluttered open. Marlene dropped her hands to one of Lily's and Sirius finally let her stand on her own, though he hovered awfully close. Remus was still at Hayden's side, while Frank and Alice had followed the others over to Lily, who had no problems remembering what had happened. They all expected something dramatic to happen, but all she did was turn the hand that Marlene was holding so she was holding one of Marlene's as well, and reached her other hand to hold one of James', something that everyone noticed, but said nothing about.

"Lils, you alright?" Marlene asked shakily, a single tear leaking from her eyes. Upon hearing her voice shake, Sirius took a slight step forward and placed his hand on her back, something she found surprisingly comforting. Lily's bright green eyes shot to Marlene's pale blue ones, and Marlene felt her heart ache at the emptiness within them. It wasn't as bad as it had been back in September, but Lily wasn't with them like she had been all day.

They all jumped at the sound of the Hospital Wing doors flying open, and turned, expecting to see Peter loaded with snacks. None of them were remotely prepared to see Professor Dumbledore glide over to them, with his purple cloaks billowing behind him. Lily and Marlene squeezed each other's hands as they looked up and met his piercing gaze.

"Now that you girls have had some time to recover," he said gravely, although with an air of trying to be gentle, "I'm afraid I need to ask you to tell me what happened in Hogsmeade this afternoon."

Marlene looked at Lily, wondering which of them would have to speak first, and was surprised when Lily just hardened her features and started speaking.

"We were having a good time. It was wonderful really. We were just heading to meet the boys at the Three Broomsticks when Hayden saw them and took off running. She started yelling at Regulus and told Lizzie to stay away from him. I don't know what she was on about, but we followed her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid," Lily explained, her eyes flickering up to Marlene's every few seconds. Behind Marlene, Sirius had stiffened at the mention of his brother and started looking over to his idiotic cousin who, it seemed, had been put through all of this for trying to stand up for him. "Then Bellatrix Black was there, and she cut Hayden on the cheek. I didn't hear any of them apparate, but they must have because Rosier, Wilkes and Lestrange were all there around us too. I turned to face Wilkes and Lestrange and next thing I know, spells were flying and I was trying to dodge them all and curse them back but I couldn't." Tears were falling down her face now, and James started stroking her hair, hoping to comfort her somehow, even though he knew he couldn't do anything to fix what had happened. "Then I was frozen, and Hayden was on the ground, and then Bellatrix, she, she, she," Lily tried to finish, but broke down sobbing. James leaned into her slightly and she let go of the hands she was holding to wrap her arms around him instead. He looked up to Dumbledore as he held her gently, one hand resting on the back of her head, and saw him nod in acceptance of her story, before turning to Marlene.

Marlene looked from her friend, who was sobbing into James' chest the way she had sobbed into Sirius' in Hogsmeade, to the headmaster and saw him staring at her intently. She made to sit down in the nearest chair, but Sirius leapt into it before she could, and then pulled her onto his lap. She decided to just accept it this time, only in part because she loved the feeling of him holding her, swallowed, took a deep breath and began to speak.

"It's like Lily said, Professor. It was a lovely day, and then Hayden ran over to Reg and started yelling at them. Then the death eaters must have apparated in because they were all around us. I turned to face Rosier and Lestrange while Bellatrix taunted Hayden, and then spells were flying. We fought, but I went down on a rock and couldn't get up quickly enough. They froze me as well and turned me to face Hayden on the ground. Bellatrix started torturing her and Lily and I couldn't do anything while all the death eaters laughed. Then, Sirius showed up," Marlene continued, squeezing his arm where it wrapped around her middle. He was currently resting his head on her back, setting it on top of her thick, brown curls. "He knocked Bellatrix off her feet, she looked up and then they were all gone and I could move. James ran to Lily, Remus ran to Hayden, who was just lying there, and Sirius came over to me. We thought we were ok until Hayden screamed again. Sirius ran over to her and brought her here," Marlene concluded, still looking into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Thank you girls. You all went through a lot today, and I'm quite proud to say that you are all my students. I daresay, the lot of you will need each other far more than you realize, before this war is over."

James looked up to the professor at that statement. "War, Professor? Is that really what this is?"

"There's rarely a point in time where anyone can say this is the beginning of a war, my boy. But I'm afraid that Lord Voldemort is certainly set on making this a war, so I think it's best that we look at it as though it was," the old man replied solemnly. James nodded seriously before turning back to Lily, while Sirius gritted his jaw and lifted his head away from the flowery scent he'd been resting it within. He looked to where his cousin was lying, and saw Remus' jaw gritted the same as his, although Remus had never looked away from Hayden.

It was at that moment that Peter arrived, laden like a pack mule with a large variety of snack food. The headmaster took his arrival as a queue to stand and leave the friends in peace. Peter's eyes widened as the professor walked by him, but trotted into the room and laid all the snacks on an empty bed save one. The bowl of chocolate pudding he had retrieved from the kitchens was set on the night stand next to Hayden's bed for when she awoke.

Sunday morning, Hayden was released from the hospital wing. She'd had breakfast there, so went straight to the head dorm, knowing that's where everyone would be gathering to do their homework. Only Remus had been there when she'd woken that morning, but he'd been silent. After she'd waken, he merely said that he was glad she was ok, and that he should let everyone know, before he'd left the room. As soon as he was gone, she'd found it harder to keep herself from thinking about what she'd been through. So, Hayden had pleaded with Madam Pomfrey to let her leave until the fussy nurse had cleared her, which was only after she'd had some porridge. Apparently chocolate pudding didn't make a good enough breakfast.

Hayden thought about what she'd say to Remus the entire walk up to the head dorm. When she had almost reached the portrait hole, she saw her cousin walk through it. Of course he wasn't going to let her make a quiet entrance. He'd only known she was so close because of that damn map of theirs, Hayden was sure of it. It was one of the things Sirius had made her swear to pretend she knew nothing about, so he was still allowed to use it to ambush her whenever he felt like it.

When his stormy grey eyes met hers, she knew there was no avoiding the little chat he had planned, so she turned to follow him without a word, until after they had entered the room behind the lion tapestry. It was one of their favorite rooms to talk, since so few knew about it and the tapestry was so heavy that it kept all the sound within the room.

"Wildfire," Sirius said with tears in his eyes, "you really scared me yesterday. Why'd you do it?" Hayden knew he wasn't just talking about the torture, but was asking about her confrontation of his baby brother.

"I don't want to see you lose Reg. And I don't want to lose him or Lizzie. They still have a chance, you know? And I was just so mad at him for everything he said to Evan. I just couldn't help myself, Stormy." He nodded, having known the answer before she said it.

"Are you okay, Hayden?" he asked, looking into her tearful brown eyes. She couldn't lie to him, he'd know. So she told the truth.

"I don't know Stormy. It hurt so bad. I didn't even know I was screaming until it stopped and they were all laughing. I couldn't fight back, Stormy. That's what scares me now. I fought and fought, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't protect Lily or Marlene, and I couldn't even protect myself. I tried, but it wasn't enough and they hurt me so badly. I didn't even know it was possible to hurt so much. And it still hurts, and I can see where I was broken. And what about Lily? I'm sure she's broken again, and this time I could have stopped it from happening. I should have been smart enough and fast enough to keep her whole, but I wasn't."

By that time, Hayden had started shaking without realizing it. Sirius reached around her gently, hugging her to him while shushing her, trying to soothe her. Suddenly, Hayden leapt from where they were sitting on the floor, to the rubbish bin under the desk across the room. As she hurled, Sirius rubbed her back gently, hoping he wasn't hurting her.

When she'd finished and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, he conjured a glass of water for her, which Hayden accepted gratefully.

"Stormy," she began after she finished the glass of water, "I'm going to be ok. I just," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "I just need everything to go back to normal. And so does Lily." She opened her eyes to look at her cousin, "Can we do that?"

Sirius knew she was right so he nodded and offered her his arm to guide her back to their friends. He started skipping, which she joined in on for a few steps, before she stopped and clutched at her ribs.

"So normal, but not that normal, alright?" she said looking at him with laughter in her eyes, despite the pain.

Sirius chuckled before he ruffled her hair and said, "Ah Wildfire, I guess you're fragile now. I should put some of that muggle packing tape on you so everyone knows."


	5. Chapter 5 - A Healing Presence

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

Monday was back to class as usual, despite the seventh year Gryffindors feeling anything but normal or class-ready. Alice and Marlene walked Hayden to breakfast as though they were her body guards, which ordinarily would have annoyed her, but given the circumstances she was surprisingly appreciative of it. When she saw the mostly lifeless Lily waiting for her at breakfast, she tried to act like nothing happened. James went along with her, so it wasn't too hard. And when the other boys arrived at breakfast, Sirius' joking made it even easier, though Remus' silence was more prolonged than usual.

Hayden zoned out for a little bit, trying to catch Remus' eye, but he wouldn't look at her. Something was wrong there, although she didn't know what. She jumped when she heard Peter say her name, and everyone looked at her, making her blush. They were all just assuming that she was broken, and she kind of was, but knowing they thought that was going to do the exact opposite of help. She busied herself with her hashbrowns, adding salt and pepper and starting to scoop them onto her fork. Peter nudged her gently.

"Um, Hayden?" he asked timidly, making her actually look at him for the first time. Hayden felt like such a dolt. He'd been offering her the apple juice, which was the only juice she liked for breakfast. Orange juice always had pulp, no matter how hard anyone tried, even the house elves.

Hayden almost giggled at the memory of her dragging Sirius to the kitchens with her in second year. The marauders had been sitting at one of the desks around the edges of the common room when Hayden had marched across the room and grabbed Sirius by the arm. She hadn't stopped either, rather she'd grabbed his arm, turned, and started marching toward the portrait hole. Sirius had no idea what was happening, but was sure that if she was going to yell at him then his friends must have earned it too, so he'd lunged for James' arm while he could and pulled him off of his chair, where he fell to the floor and out of Sirius' grip. James had shot a bewildered look to Remus across the desk, just before falling out of his chair. As he stood and started rubbing his backside, Remus also stood from his chair, although he was simply sighing and shaking his head. Peter was still new to the group and thought this was the norm. Sure he wasn't invited along, he sat in his chair timidly, gazing longingly after them when Remus turned back to look at him.

"Peter, you coming?" he asked, as though it was expected that Peter joined them. It was the first time Peter had ever heard anything that sounded like he was expected to be a part of a group. He was ecstatic, not caring what Hayden may have been up to, but simply nodding enthusiastically and practically jumping out of his chair to follow.

She had marched to the basement, where she knew the kitchens were located, in silence. She let go of Sirius' hand after the first floor they'd descended, when she was sure he would follow her. The boys had been trying to figure out where they were going for a while now.

"Clearly it's not the Great Hall as we're past it now."

"The dungeons?" Peter suggested squeakily to the others.

"I don't think so. Other staircases would have been better routes," Remus puzzled.

"Maybe she's just confused," teased James.

"Is that it, ickle Haydikins? Are you just confused?" guffawed Sirius, hoping to break her silence. He didn't even earn a look from her.

"She's not confused, guys. She has a purpose," Remus stated, as though it was obvious. Just as he finished however, Hayden had stopped. Sirius ran into her because he'd been looking at the other boys, and knocked her to the ground. She glared at him and reached her hand up for him to take, which he did and helped her up.

"So, where are we, Wildfire? Why'd you bring us here?"

"Where are the kitchens?" she asked, looking between the boys. She'd only meant to bring Sirius along, but if they were all here surely it would only help her get to where she wanted to go. Sirius blanched.

"What?"

"The kitchens. I need to go and talk to the house elves, but all I know is that they're in the basement. So where are they?" she looked to her cousin, challenging him as though he'd said she couldn't go there. He merely raised his eyebrows in confusion, looked at his friends, who all shrugged, and led the way to the painting of a bowl of fruit. He reached his hand out and tickled the pear and it became a green door-knob after it squirmed, which he took and used to open the portrait hole for her.

"Thanks, Stormy. That was all I needed." He furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"You didn't think you'd get to drag all of us down here and just leave us outside the kitchen, did you? We're invested now!" Sirius announced, causing the other marauders to nod in agreement. Hayden shrugged and walked through the portrait hole. She looked around in awe at the tables lined up below the house tables in the Great Hall, the stoves, the ovens, the iceboxes. It was huge! And there were probably hundreds of house elves running around, one of whom squeaked in excitement at the children's presence and ran to them.

"How may I be helping yous, sirs and miss?" the creature asked, looking up at Hayden with its huge eyes.

"Hi, I'm Hayden and I'm a Gryffindor, what's your name?"

"Oh! Well, I am being called Flutter."

"Hi Flutter," Hayden smiled. "I have a request for you guys. Every morning at breakfast, there's a ton of orange juice, which is delicious, I'm sure. But I don't like orange juice. Could you maybe have some apple juice at the Gryffindor table for me?"

"Of course miss! Whatever you is needing!" Flutter squeaked. The boys exchanged looks of incredulity as Hayden stood from where she'd been kneeling to speak with the house elf.

"Thank you Flutter. I'll let you get back to what you were doing now," she said with a final smile at the house elf, before turning and leaving the kitchen, the boys following her out. After the portrait swung shut, Sirius and James started laughing.

"You made us all come down here so you could ask for apple juice?" Sirius had heckled.

"No, I made YOU come down here so I could ask for apple juice. I hate orange juice! It _always_ has pulp in it! It's gross! Theirs is the best I've had with the least pulp, but it still has pulp!" Hayden had explained heatedly. All of the boys burst into chuckles, Sirius laughing so hard he fell to the stone floor and rolled to his back.

Hayden grinned at the memory, accepting the apple juice and pouring herself a glass. How had they come from those smiley, giggly little second years to these tortured seventh years? Tortured, that was actually the exact right word, Hayden realized, remembering the look on Bellatrix's face as she had cast the cruciatus curse.

Remus finally met her eyes after she dropped the apple juice, but Hayden didn't even notice. Nor did she notice the small fire in Lily's eyes at the pain in her own. She also didn't notice Sirius tense all his muscles and grit his teeth. The only thing she finally noticed was Remus' hand on hers. At that point, she started seeing and hearing the world again. Remus had stood up across from her when she hadn't responded initially, and Peter had his hand on her shoulder.

"Hayden," Remus was saying, looking at her intently, "are you okay?" She blinked and realized she had tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and nodded. If she didn't act normal, things couldn't return to normal, she chided herself. Thankfully, it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She grabbed her bag and strode to class, leaving her friends to watch after her in wonder.

All her friends kept an eye on Hayden during their double Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They'd spent the class studying the theory of the Patronus Charm, which Sirius was thankful for. He was convinced that the use of so much magic would be too much for Hayden to handle. Sirius had always been overprotective of his favorite cousin. She put up with their crazy family and still saw the point in fighting for good, she deserved the very best that life had to offer. Sirius was determined to do his part to make sure she got it, but he didn't always know what he could do to help. Watching her suffer through class, which was one of her favorites no less, was putting him through the ringer.

By the end of lunch though, Hayden seemed back to normal. As they all walked back to the head dorm to work on homework during their free period, Marlene and Alice injected themselves between their two best friends, letting the boys follow behind the girls, and tried to chatter on like everything was normal. When Sirius accidentally shoved James into a suit of armor, they'd been rough-housing like usual, Lily jumped, looking around frantically for the source of the noise. Her eyes flew past James and the armor and continued to dart, as though she didn't even see what had happened. Her breathing shallowed and quickened, while her wand was clutched tightly in her hand.

The others all stood still, unsure of what to do and waiting for Hayden to make a move. When Lily started shaking and Hayden still hadn't tried to comfort her in anyway, in fact she was still frozen where she had been when James had crashed, they realized something must be happening with her as well. James stood and walked cautiously to Lily, slightly afraid that she might curse him in fear. When he reached her, he grabbed her wand hand and pointed it to the floor as he wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close. As James calmed Lily, who stopped shaking as soon as his arm went around her, Sirius started making his way to Hayden just as cautiously as James did. When he managed to see her face, there were tears in her eyes again and she was stark white. When he set his hand on her shoulder, she whipped her wand out and took a few steps backward.

For whatever reason, the loud noise had sent Hayden back to the road in Hogsmeade where she had been surrounded. She wasn't going to be tortured this time though, so when someone touched her, she prepared to fight, just as she had after being cut before. However, when she walked backwards, she walked into Remus, who had only the fact that she'd stepped away from Sirius to use to understand what was happening in her mind. So Remus wrapped his arms around her, making sure his left arm was lower so he could use that hand to hold her wand arm, and pulled her close, cooing, "It's okay. You're okay. You're safe," repeatedly into her ear with his warm, soft voice. Slowly, Hayden stopped struggling and started taking in her surroundings.

Sirius was watching Hayden's eyes during all of this, and saw her blink the world into focus. It wasn't until she realized who was holding her, by finally registering his scent, that the fear left her eyes. It was more than that though. She wasn't just not scared anymore, she looked content, like she actually felt safe. When Remus let go of her and took a step back, Sirius saw Hayden's eyes change. She wasn't afraid exactly, but it was clear to him that she no longer felt safe. He'd have to talk to someone about this, Sirius noted to himself.

As soon as both girls seemed to calm down properly, Marlene took their arms in hers and led the group the rest of the way to the head dorm, where Remus and the girls did homework while the other boys pretended to work on it and tried to work on it a little, before getting bored and starting a game of exploding snap. Their afternoon Potions class proceeded as normal. In fact, after the suit of armor incident, Lily seemed to be the only one still having problems functioning fully, although Sirius seemed a little keyed up.

It wasn't until a few days later, after Sirius had decided he didn't actually need to worry about Hayden no less, that the Gryffindors realized that Hayden wasn't as back to normal as she seemed. Lily still had at least one episode a day where she'd either freeze, start shaking, or start crying, sometimes even all three, but Hayden was more than equipped to handle these episodes. Each time, she had gone to her best friend's side and hugged her, cooed to her, led her from the room, or just took her hand, and each time it was exactly what Lily needed. Each time, Marlene had been at her friends' sides as well, with a smile or squeeze of the shoulder. Alice always watched her friends take care of Lily while she continued to take notes. They'd been through that ordeal together, so they could help her more than Alice could. That being said, Lily would lose it if she realized her episodes had caused her to fail a class or exam, or even a quiz!

At the end of Transfiguration that day, Lily had one of her episodes as she was packing her things to leave, and dropped her books. As they hit the floor with a crack similar to that of apparation, Marlene set her books on her desk and rushed to Lily's side. It took until she had taken Lily's hand in hers for her to realize that Hayden wasn't there yet. Marlene looked over to Hayden as Alice joined her at Lily's side.

Hayden was frozen. After a look at James, Sirius walked over to his cousin's side. As he touched her shoulder, she seemed to come back to her senses. She finished gathering her things and walked to the head dorm without a backward glance, leaving Alice, Marlene, and James to calm Lily down. Sirius started after her, but thought better of it when he saw Remus disappear behind her. Remus followed behind her and arrived at the head dorm shortly after her, looking around in shock when he realized that Sirius wasn't with him.

Remus had been trying to keep some space between himself and Hayden after he had caused her injury to worsen. He wasn't good for her, and that incident had made it obvious. He couldn't keep himself from trying to check in on her, but he'd made a point of not sitting next to her or being next to her, or even talking to her if he could help it. But as he looked around, it became clear that Sirius had noticed and had stayed behind to force Remus to talk to Hayden. She collapsed onto the couch in tears as he hovered near the portrait hole.

Remus closed the gap between them in three steps, unable to prevent himself from going to her side when she was in tears. He tucked a piece of her fiery hair behind her ear as he sat down next to her. Hayden sucked a huge breath in, trying to calm the tears, and inhaled his scent. For some reason, every time she caught a whiff of Remus, she could relax a bit. No, she knew why, she just hadn't wanted to admit it too much if nothing would come from it.

As Hayden leaned into him, Remus inhaled her fresh and fruity scent. It always made him think of some form of orchard, because of the hints of apple, pear, and cherry blossom he always picked up on. It was actually his favorite scent in the world, which he'd learned the previous year in potions class when they had brewed Amortentia. Remus closed his eyes with his arm behind Hayden, and almost lost himself in images of her outside by the lake when she finally spoke.

"Remus, stay with me?" she asked quietly, her voice shaking.

"As long as you need," Remus responded, resting his head on hers and holding her a little tighter. He was grateful to her for having asked, because now he had a promise to keep, a reason to keep this distance closed for a little longer.

When Hayden had finally stopped crying, she sat up and looked at Remus. She didn't even think about it as she reached up to his face and ran her fingers over the scar that ran from almost his nose to his jaw line, lingering over his jawline before taking her hand away. He had to fight to hide the shudder that went through him at her touch, and even so he didn't fully succeed.

"Remus, you help. You, somehow, make the world feel safe."

"Hayden, I can't - "

"But you do. You make the world feel safe. You make me feel protected, even if you're just in the room. Stop avoiding me, please. I need you. I'm…well, I'm better when you're around."

Remus took a deep breath and nodded, if he helped her somehow, there was no way he'd be able to keep away from her now. He met her eyes with his own, looking at how they changed from a warm caramel center to a darker chocolate brown near the outside with an almost green lining around the edge. She looked into his, observing the geometric patterns his seemed to make with the golden flecks. Hayden leaned closer as he brushed her cheek gently, before sliding his hand along her jawline to rest on the back of her neck. Her heartbeat was erratic, and her cheek and jaw were tingling where he had touched her. He started leaning towards her and she finally broke eye contact to look at his lips.

"Mate, I'm sure she's fine. She probably just needed to - " James froze as he walked through his portrait hole to see Hayden and Remus jump apart.

"What? Is she okay?!" Sirius demanded from behind his friend, shoving him out of the way. He looked at the two, now sitting on opposite ends of the couch, and eyed the blush rising on Hayden's cheeks. Choosing to ignore it, he asked his cousin, "You better now?"

She nodded, glad that he wasn't teasing her this time. Peter walked in and noticed the atmosphere in the room. As he noticed her blush, he also noticed a strange anger in his gut that he tried to ignore. Hayden was alright and that was all that really mattered.

The three girls followed Peter in, Lily back to her not fully there self. When Alice, always the most observant after Lily, noticed Hayden's blush, she raised her eyebrows in question, to which Hayden gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head in reply. Quickly, the group went back to its usual jokes and chatter, as though nothing had ever happened to Hayden or Lily, but Hayden looked over at Remus more than usual that evening.

The next two weeks followed in much the same way, although both girls had fewer and fewer episodes and Sirius seemed tighter and tighter wound. On their way to lunch the last Wednesday of the month, James linked arms with Sirius and announced they had some plotting to do before dragging him into a deserted classroom.

"Padfoot, mate. What's going on?" James asked, looking at his emotional brother. Sirius had been jumpy all morning, well ever since Hayden's episode the night before really. He had nearly attacked Peter when he had covered Sirius' eyes before class started, trying to play a guess who game.

"It's Hayden," Sirius croaked. "She's falling apart but pretends not to be. She won't let me in and I can't help her. I don't know how."

James patted his friend's back as he began to cry for his beloved cousin's pain. "She's healing, Pads. That's what matters, isn't it?"

After a few more moments of silence, Sirius sniffled and nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes as though it would stop them from coming. He looked at James intently, a look that James knew to mean that if Sirius was sharing, he would have to share as well.

"She's healing more than Lily is. Lily was so close to being better, and then Hogsmeade happened. What if she never gets past it? Or every time she almost does, something else terrible happens?" James said, admitting his fears out loud for the first time as tears formed in his eyes. Sirius nodded at him.

"They'll be alright Prongs. That's what Hayden told me anyway. And I think they will."

It was enough for the two boys. They both wiped tears away from their eyes before embracing briefly, clapping each other on the back. They joined their classmates at the Gryffindor table as though nothing had happened, although they both seemed lighter than they had since Hogsmeade.

"But guys, this is our last year! Our last Halloween! We have to do something!" Hayden heard her cousin whine as she walked into the head dorm. All the boys jumped and looked at her as she closed the portrait behind her, and she couldn't help but laugh at their expressions. Every single one of them looked as though they'd been caught doing something terrible, except Sirius. James was wincing, as though he'd expected Lily to be there and start screaming at him for planning something. Remus looked ashamed of himself, and Peter looked like a deer caught in headlights. Sirius though, he was seated on the end of the red couch, leaning back with a huge, carefree smile on his face.

"So, what are you boys planning for Halloween this year?" Hayden asked after calming her fit of giggles. She strode over to the couch and wedged herself between Remus and Sirius, snuggling in to lean slightly on her crush. Peter was seated on the rug in front of them and James was in the big plushy chair to Sirius' right.

"Actually, nothing," Remus soft voice stated. Hayden felt a rush of calm flow over her.

"WHAT?! NO HALLOWEEN PRANK?!" she demanded, making the two boys she was sitting between wince.

"Well, Lily -"

"Remember I said everyone had to be normal?! You can't just ignore Halloween because she's still sad! You have to annoy her more than ever!" Hayden cut across James before he had even formed the full sentence in his mind.

"See? I knew we had to pull a prank!" gloated Sirius, loving that his cousin had just told everyone he was right. "And it has to be a good one. A big one. A Halloween prank to top all Halloween pranks!"

"Is that even possible? Remember last year's? I've never laughed so hard as when Snivellus went up in sparks!" James grinned at his best friend, whose eyes seemed to gloss over with memories.

"He worked so hard on that costume. That was classic!" chuckled Sirius.

"But none of that this year, right?" Remus asked, looking at the two boys over Hayden's messy red curls.

"Of course not!" was James' immediate reply. If he wanted to get his girl this year, they couldn't pull any pranks that she could classify as mean. This was going to be tough. Soon, Remus was over at James' desk across from the portrait hole. He was always the note taker and diagram drawer. Hayden was hovering behind him, pretending to make sure that he got everything down right, while in reality admiring his penmanship and breathing in his comforting scent. The other three marauders were still in front of the fire, but they had now shifted so that they could see Remus instead of the portrait hole.


	6. Chapter 6 - The End of a Tradition

**Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!**

 **Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!**

Sunday morning finally arrived and Hayden was thrilled. It was finally Halloween. She threw on her robes quickly, excited to see what the marauders were dressing as for Halloween, as they'd never been the type to wait until the ball to dress up. As she walked through the castle's corridors, she grinned at the jack-o'-lanterns covering the heads of the many suits of armor. She knew they had done that for her, as she had loved jack-o'-lanterns as a child and had always tried to make the best one in the family until she came to Hogwarts.

She was the first seventh year Gryffindor to arrive at breakfast, so she set to dishing herself up some breakfast. Using the slow and careful movements she had found were best for causing the least pain over the last two weeks, she served herself some scrambled eggs. Hayden was just eying the apple juice when she heard a commotion from the entrance to the Great Hall. She turned to see four figures in brown robes with hoods over their faces.

Suddenly, the world was going dark and Hayden was having problems getting enough oxygen. There was a weight on her chest, compressing it as her heart beat too quickly. She grabbed her wand, just in case, and continued to try to breathe. Each breath brought her pain, both in her chest and her still broken rib. She clutched the table with her free hand as she tried not to focus on the dark spots forming in her vision.

Footsteps rang through her ears and she tried to see who it was, but the face kept hiding in the blackness in her vision. Whoever it was pushed her down onto the bench gently, and started rubbing her back softly. It was helping to calm her heart beat and breathing. She realized that she'd only been hearing a buzzing in her ears until that moment, when she heard his voice.

"Hayden, you're alright. Just breath. It's going to be okay," Remus was chanting softly into her ear. Tears filled her eyes as she registered just how much her ribs were protesting to all this deep breathing. At least the dark spots were beginning to clear, she said to herself. This had been a very short panic attack, but that didn't change the panic still in her chest. When her vision finally cleared, it was to see the four figures in brown robes now hoodless and surrounding her.

"What are you guys wearing?" Hayden moaned at the marauders.

"Our costumes," Sirius replied sheepishly. Hayden just glared at him.

"Well, obviously. What are you supposed to be?" she asked almost as though she was a petulant 13-year-old again.

"Moony! Come show her!" he exclaimed with delight. Remus rolled his eyes as he left Hayden's side to join his friends. They didn't put their hoods up this time, but all reached to their sides to grab something before assuming a combative stance as though they were about to start sword fighting. She looked at them questioningly as she opened her mouth to ask what they were doing, when beams of colored light grew from their hands. She understood it now.

Lily had brought all of them to a muggle comic book store over the summer, for the sake of amusing the boys so she wouldn't need to actually deal with them as much. They were all disappointed that the pictures didn't move, but loved them anyway. Especially one that featured far away planets and flying ships, and was named "Star Wars".

The boys were Jedis. Hayden looked around at them and started giggling, albeit painfully. Of course they had chosen to dress up as some muggle character! Not that she could talk, considering what she was wearing to the ball that night, but she still found their choice of costumes highly amusing.

"Well, now that my heroes have arrived, could one of you pour me some apple juice?" she asked as she turned back to the table while still calming her giggles. The boys all put their lightsabers away, and found seats at the table, while Peter poured Hayden a glass of apple juice. The boys all started helping themselves to breakfast while Hayden examined Remus. He was getting pale again, and his scars were popping out more than usual, but he didn't seem to be in too much discomfort yet.

Remus grinned at Hayden after catching her inspecting him, "So, did you like the Jack-o'-Lanterns?"

Hayden's eyes widened as she nodded and smiled, "I loved it! Was that your idea?"

Remus nodded at her before turning back to his breakfast. Hayden looked around as she chewed her next bite. The Great Hall had gained a lot more students in the short amount of time she'd been looking at Remus. She noticed a commotion starting at the end of the table. Actually, there was shouting coming from all over the Great Hall, Hayden eyed the four boys sitting around her as it grew louder. They finally cracked and started snickering, still avoiding each other's eyes for the moment, trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves. It might have worked had they not been known to pull these types of pranks all the time.

Everyone who was drinking orange juice was quickly finding their mouths full of worms instead. Plates were already covered in worms that had been spit out. When Lily, Marlene, and Alice arrived on the scene, they started giggling immediately, which gave James' eyes a special twinkle.

"So, we're having worms for breakfast?" Marlene asked as she sat down, looking at Sirius for an explanation. It was Remus who answered, though.

"Only if you have the orange juice."

All eight of them burst into laughter. It was going to be a good day, Hayden knew it.

###

All of the Hogwarts students kept a wary eye on the Marauders that day, as they knew better than to assume some worms and Jack-o'-Lanterns were the entirety of their Halloween pranks. But as lunch came, nothing else exciting had happened. They had exams coming up the second week of November, so they'd spent the morning without Lily, who'd been in the library studying. The seven Gryffindors found their seats in the Great Hall for lunch, waiting for Lily to arrive.

When she walked through the doors to the Great Hall, it started. Hundreds of the little muggle ghost decorations that go in trees flew out of the walls. They all floated along the tables, including the professors' table, crying out "Boo" hauntingly as they went. As the ghosts exited the walls, a handful of spiders dropped onto Lily from above, causing her to screech and jump and brush them off wildly. After dislodging all of the spiders, she marched over to where the marauders were sitting quite irritated. She was about to start telling the boys off when all of the ghosts burst into puffs of flour that coated the floor and tables, and Lily's face.

The marauders froze, terrified of the outburst that was about to come. She huffed, sending up a small cloud of white, and burst into giggles. Hayden smiled at her best friend, glad to hear her melodious laughter for the second time that day. Before that day, it had been too long. The boys all looked at each other before joining the redhead in laughter, which was clearly contagious as the other girls started joining in.

The students all stopped laughing to hear better as Filch limped past them calling, "Professor!" He got to the professors' table and huffed, attempting to catch his breath.

"Professor! Look at what these mongrels did! It'll take hours to clean it! And then you want there to be a ball tonight?! No! No more Halloween Balls!" Filch wheezed to Professor Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling with mirth at the marauders prank.

"Mr. Filch, I'm sure it doesn't need to come to that," was his simple reply, with a tone of finality. Filch shook his head and turned to walk away, glaring at the marauders as he limped back out of the Great Hall. As soon as he was gone, they all burst back into laughter.

The rest of the day passed far too slowly for everyone. They had finished their homework either the day before or in the morning in anticipation of that evening. The Gryffindors spent most of their afternoon under the oak tree by the lake, enjoying the fall weather. But, by three o'clock Marlene was insisting that they needed to go to their dormitory to be ready in time. The boys guffawed while Lily and Alice moaned. Hayden merely shrugged as she wanted tonight to be the best Halloween yet, and she wanted to look her very best for it.

"So is it something magical or muggle?" James asked the girls as they started up the many steps toward the Gryffindor Common Room on the 7th floor.

Alice looked at her friends with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes before answering, "A little bit of both!"

The girls had all agreed, in the previous weeks as they had started planning their costumes, that the boys wouldn't know what they were until the ball. Every year, Sirius and James hounded the girls, trying to guess what they were going as. All of the earlier questions had been simply answered with a "Not telling you" or "Wouldn't you like to know" but that was getting boring, so it was time to switch it up, without actually admitting to anything of course.

"How can it be both?" Peter asked confusedly.

"Same way that yours is for one," Marlene responded cheekily. "Why do you guys even bother? You're meeting us in the Great Hall, so you're not going to find out before then."

"That sounds like a challenge, McKinnon," Sirius growled playfully. If he was hoping for a fight, he didn't get one. All Marlene did was roll her eyes at the marauder. "Oh come on, Marlene."

"Shut it, Black. You're not going to find out until the ball," she retorted as they all entered the common room.

"See you boys there," Alice chimed in as she and Marlene started herding the two redheads across the common room and up the stairs. Lily was shuffling her feet, as much as she looked forward to getting dressed up in a costume for Halloween every year, she still dreaded the process.

Marlene did her own hair and makeup first, as the other girls pulled their spandex outfits on. As Marlene finished curling her hair and positioning her head band just right, she sat Lily down in front of her to finish her look first. As quick and painless as Marlene tried to make it, Lily still grumbled about how long it took. Alice was the next victim after Lily's hair was entirely straightened, but she endured it with much more grace than Lily had. She was still thrilled when she finally got to put her mask on. And as always, Hayden participated in her makeover more than willingly. She even helped Marlene curl her own hair so that Marlene could get into her costume. Finally, the girls were ready, and they left their dormitory with arms linked and giant smiles on their faces.

The marauders arrived at the Great Hall around ten minutes before the females did. They had to make sure all the pieces of their grand finale were in place after all. After double checking that however, they got bored. Peter took his lightsaber off his belt and started playing with it, turning it off and on. Remus had worked some impressive magic to make the columns of light actually function as solids, though not with the capability of cutting a person in half unlike in the comic. Sirius eyed Peter's lightsaber and nudged James who immediately grinned with twinkling eyes. He was in.

The two boys started attacking Peter with their lightsabers, making the noises from the movie with their mouths. He succumbed to their combined force quickly, which worked for him as he never meant to be in a lightsaber duel. Peter was content to watch the other two battle with Remus. Sirius was finally brought down by James, who was about to strike his final blow when his jaw dropped. The girls had arrived.

Lily walked in with a dark blue spandex jumpsuit with black gloves, boots, and belt and a four within a circle on her chest. As she moved, she seemed to disappear for a moment before reappearing. She was a red haired version of Sue Storm. Hayden was next to her in all black, with leather boots covering the ankles of her spandex jumpsuit. Her red hair curled magnificently around her face, she perfectly imitated the Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. The other two girls were flanking the redheads. Behind Lily was Alice, also dressed in an all-black jumpsuit, though hers had unique gloves with spikes up to her elbows. Alice also had a black cape and a black mask covering her eyes and forehead that was topped with two ear-like points. Alice's superheroine was Batgirl. Marlene stood to the outside of Hayden. Her outfit was the only one that ended in a mini skirt, one that was royal blue with white stars. She wore a red tube top with a sweetheart neckline that was lined with a metallic gold. Her mane of dark brown curls were held back by a gold tiara that matched the cuffs around her wrists. She wore red leather knee high boots and had a golden whip coiled around her arm. Marlene was Wonder Woman.

All four young men stared at those women of Gryffindor in awe. They embodied the women they were dressed as, and the men knew it. None of these girls were ones who could ever be walked over or who would ever truly needed someone to save them.

Sirius noticed his cousin first, embarrassed by the fact that she was clearly a woman. After adjusting to this shock, he had eyes for Marlene alone. Her outfit emphasized her small waist and healthy sized hips. Sirius had never seen a woman so beautiful.

James was thinking the exact same thing as he looked at Lily. The belt emphasized her waist, while the jumpsuit showed her slim figure and proved to him that the school robes had always left way too much to the imagination.

Peter couldn't look away from Hayden. Her muscular legs were given their due, and her hips were emphasized beautifully. Remus noticed the same details as he gazed at the redhead. And as he made his eyes drift to her face, following her every curve along the way, he found the eyes he loved so much, with a fierce intensity he had forgotten they could hold.

Sirius cleared his throat as the girls closed the distance between them and their friends, reminding Remus of the talk his friend had given him while the girls were getting ready. Sirius had hijacked him and brought him to the room concealed by the lion tapestry as Peter and James continued to the head dorm.

"What's going on, Padfoot?" he had asked as they entered the room.

"Hayden has a thing for you, Moony. And you like her. If you're going to do anything with her, you need to take care of her. If you hurt her Moony, I may have to disown you. I don't know if I could do that, so just, don't hurt her, alright? Don't do anything unless you're ready to be something for her, yea?"

It was one of the only serious statements that Sirius had ever uttered to Remus. He didn't know how to respond to it, though he knew that it matched the thoughts he was always debating with himself. So he had nodded. That form of agreement meant he couldn't do anything now about how crazy Hayden and her costume was driving him. He'd need to control himself until he knew what he was doing, even though he had no desire to behave the way he should.

The music started as more students arrived, and they all danced the night away. There was a ton of amazing food lining the Great Hall, put out as snacks for the dancers. Punch was laid out on one of such tables, and shortly after the ball officially began, one of the punch bowls was spiked for those students left without their own supply of firewhiskey.

The Gryffindors danced together, taking turns between all the girls dancing together, while the boys were spiking the punch bowl, and between pairing off, each girl dancing with each male throughout the night.

During the last slow dance of the night, time had flown and it was already almost midnight, James asked Lily to dance, which she accepted when Hayden pushed her into him. Marlene and Sirius had been flirting all night, so he didn't even ask her to dance with him, instead just twirling her back to the dance floor. Remus was going to wait it out when Hayden walked over to him, just before Peter was going to ask her.

"You're not dancing anymore?" Remus asked, trying to make some harmless small talk. Her costume, and the firewhiskey her cousin had been sharing with them, had inspired all of the boldness Hayden possessed to flow out of her, unfortunately for Remus who was trying very hard to keep his distance.

"Well, the man I want to dance with is standing over here instead of dancing, so I thought I'd join him."

Remus blushed slightly and offered her his hand, pulling her back onto the dance floor, while Peter glowered at them from the snack table. If any of the marauders had looked at him in that moment, they would have seen the anger and hurt radiating from him. They would have seen the jealousy emanating from his eyes. But they were all too busy dancing with the women of their dreams.

Remus and Hayden swayed slowly with the music, holding each other close, but still gently. They looked into each other's eyes, and Remus used one of his hands to brush a curl out of Hayden's face, leaving his hand on her neck before leaning toward her. Her heart raced, and she leaned into him. Their lips met for a moment, and it was like nothing Hayden had known before. His lips were soft and gentle and seemed to fit hers perfectly. She smiled into the kiss as the song ended and he pulled away tenderly. They met each other's eyes once more, their eyes both twinkling with joy and excitement, and Remus turned and led her to the side of the hall with the other marauders.

Before Hayden could say or ask anything, she heard a dull thump echo from the corridor. She looked around to see all the marauders grinning. The prank she had zoned out during most of the planning of was finally taking place. She turned back to the center of the hall to enjoy the show.

A lively song played, and there were suddenly five spotlights shining on the floor. The echoing grew louder until around 20 suits of armor, complete with their Jack-o'-Lantern heads, walked into the Great Hall and stood around it strategically. The spotlights started reflecting off their arms, legs, and chests as something appeared from above.

The boys had used a sticking charm to attach mirrors to Mrs. Norris and she was now floating and spinning like a muggle mirror ball above the dance floor. The lights twinkled and bounced to and from all angles of the Great Hall. As the song came to an end, all of the suits of armor removed their heads and prepared to launch them at the dance floor. Mr. Filch was present, and clearly irate at the use of his beloved cat as a prop in their prank. He started storming over when the pumpkins were launched. As they hit the floor, a swarm of bats flew from the floor, obscuring everyone's view of the floor. The bats flew for the sky, clearing the view to the pumpkin mess, which was a rather nasty depiction of Mr. Filch. Even more angry, he continued across the floor when the song came to an end.

As soon as the song ended, explosions sounded, startling the caretaker as he stepped on a piece of pumpkin. He slipped to his back as the fireworks took off across the nonexistent ceiling of the Great Hall, signing:

Mssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Wish you one last Happy Halloween!

The students all cheered and laughed at the prank and the grumbling of Filch. Lily giggled with the largest smile on her face, one that had been absent since the summer. She turned to James, who was standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders, and kissed him swiftly. Hayden turned to grin at Remus, but found him on the other side of the group, leaving the nearest marauder as Peter, who she grinned at to save face, before turning to find Remus looking everywhere but at her.

What was going on with that boy? What had happened to change from him kissing her to him standing on the other side of the room? She caught Sirius' eye after he and Marlene _finally_ broke apart, and she knew. Her cousin had interfered somehow. He was going to be in huge trouble. Tomorrow. It could wait for a night that left everyone smiling.


	7. Chapter 7 - Surviving the Recoil

**So, I'm still only responsible for creating Hayden and this storyline based off of J.K. Rowling's AMAZING work. And I still want all the feedback you can throw at me!**

 **ALSO, I'm so sorry it's been so long! I had a concussion and then lots of drama happen in my life and writing hasn't been easy. But I'm working on it and I haven't forgotten!**

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Hayden, I love you. You're beautiful, stunning, fierce, strong, and incredible. I never should have denied it for so long," Remus' soft voice admitted as he looked into Hayden's eyes. His hands were resting on her shoulders and her heart was flying. This was finally happening. She reached her hands to his back, setting them on his shoulder blades. He leaned into her and started placing the most wondrous kisses on her lips that she had ever known. She kissed back with fervor. The wait had been worth it, Hayden was sure of it as she slid her hands across his scarred back below his shirt. Her fingers lingered on each scar as he started unbuttoning her school blouse. She had never been so glad to have worn a skirt as she was at that moment, knowing what was coming.

"Remus," Hayden moaned as he moved his lips to her neck, the scruff on his cheek and chin sending shivers through her body. The distance between them needed to be closed, so Hayden pulled his shirt over his head, leaving them skin on skin. Her skirt was little more than a belt as she wrapped her leg around his hip and threaded it down the inside of his leg. She held him close with her leg as she kissed him passionately. Now that he had managed to lose her shirt, his fingers made their way to the back of her bra, delicately picking at it until it came loose. She had loved this man for so long, and now she was finally going to lose her virginity to him. Hayden was more ready for this than she had ever thought she could be. Her entire body shuddered as she felt Remus grab her lower back and pull it closer to him, making his arousal more than obvious against her pelvis.

Without thinking about what she was doing, she reached for the button on his pants and undid it, grazing his hard penis through his boxers. She bit her bottom lip out of nerves as she looked up into his eyes. There was a hunger there, burning through his irises, making him look wilder than she'd ever seen him before. He dropped his pants and shoved her against the wall. Hungry moans growled in Remus' throat as he snogged her. Hayden tried to breathe as she ripped her lips from his, moving to kiss his neck and sliding down his chest. She kissed her way down to his hips before he started moaning her name. She lifted the elastic band of his boxers so she could kiss lower and he said her name again. And again as she kissed a little lower.

Something hit her square in the face as she heard her name once more. It wasn't Remus saying it though. What was happening? A pillow hit her face again. It was a pillow? Hayden tried blinking and opening her eyes. She was in her dorm room, the same room she'd woken up in for the past 6 and a half years, almost. She was in her bed, laying on her back. As she blinked and continued looking around, she finally found the offending pillow. Marlene was standing over her head holding a pillow over her face. Of course it was Marlene.

"When'd you become such a slag, Hayden?" she guffawed. Alice snorted from her bed across the room.

"Really, Marlene? You're calling Hayden a slag? She's only had you as an example for the last how many years?" Alice teased, causing Marlene to chuck the pillow across the dormitory. Next thing they knew, all three of them were slamming pillows across each other and throwing them in a full-out pillow war.

As the seventh-year Gryffindors traipsed to the dungeons, there was an undeniable excitement, along with a nearly palpable awkwardness. It was the first week of November, so they all knew that meant it was the birthday bash week. Both Sirius and Hayden were celebrating their 18th birthdays this week, so the parties were going to be some of the biggest the Gryffindor Common Room had ever witnessed. That Saturday was also the first quidditch match of the season: Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff. However, before those parties or that decision, the marauders and their female counterparts were going to need to sort out what was happening between them.

Halloween had been a big night, with many big events happening that now needed to be understood. The only event that seemed to be settled was that Marlene and Sirius were now a couple. Sirius had thrown his arm around her shoulders as soon as they had stood to leave the table that morning, and she had succumbed with a smile. Lily was awkwardly avoiding making eye contact with James, who kept smiling over at her. Hayden was trying to pretend as though nothing was bothering her, while she was really trying to figure out what had happened to make Remus disappear from her side, and when to talk to Sirius about it without risking his birthday week. Remus was keeping space and human buffers between himself and Hayden as much as possible. Peter ended up being one of the most used buffers, which he was grateful for. He was determined to tell Hayden how he felt about her by her birthday party, but he was terrified to say it, so kept mumbling awkwardly instead of actually conversing with her. Alice just looked around at her friends, waiting for them to figure it out. She was never the meddling type, instead believing that they needed to figure things out for themselves.

So, Hayden found it to be a relief when she saw Regulus sneaking through the dungeons. Clearly he was up to something, and that could be a distraction from the awkwardness taking place. She was about to nudge Sirius when she saw Snape head from the same direction. Pointing Snape out to anyone in the group was a bad idea, so Hayden kept it to herself. Ever since fifth year when he called Lily a mudblood, none of the Gryffindors could stand the slime ball. Hayden had been able to see the good in him, but only ever for Lily, and it had taken a lot of effort. When he had crossed the line and broken her heart, he had declared any and all alliances with any of them over. If James hadn't finally started growing up over that summer, the marauders would have declared war on the snake the next year.

As Hayden sifted through the memories, she focused on the room that Regulus turned into. It was the room that Snape had left. So they had to be up to something together. Hayden continued her musing until she found herself at her desk in Potions class. As she sat, she felt the tension she had been so blissfully ignoring. It was going to be a long day.

The moment finally presented itself for Hayden to ambush Sirius as they all reached the 7th floor after dinner that evening. Lily and James had rounds to go on, while Remus was still awkwardly avoiding Hayden and Peter was still hovering closer than usual. Alice was going to the common room to work on some of her homework, so the only one Hayden actually had to get rid of was Marlene. Peter always went where the most people went so he'd go with Remus and Alice.

"Stormy," she stated, as she grabbed his arm and put it around her shoulders.

"What's up, Wildfire? Are you afraid you're going to be forgotten now that I got Marlene?" Sirius joked. Hayden pouted and leaned into her cousin as she nodded. Sirius understood there was something going on, so he let go of Marlene. "I'll meet you in the common room," he told her before giving her a deep but brief snog, that left her reeling as she nodded and continued on with the rest of the group. Hayden and Sirius broke away and made their way to the Lion tapestry.

"So what's really going on Wildfire? We both know I could never forget about you and you would never worry about that happening."

"Of course. I just needed an excuse to get you away from Marlene. I never thought you two would be the first to pair off," Hayden responded to her cousin with a twinkle in her eyes. As he shrugged awkwardly, he nudged her with his elbow. She knew her cousin was telling her to stop stalling. The twinkle left her eyes as she took a deep breath, "What'd you say to Remus? We danced and kissed and then he wasn't next to me at the end of your prank. You're the only thing that would have changed things. Are you not okay with anything happening between us?"

"Hayden, you're an idiot," Sirius grinned. "Of course I'm alright if anything happens between you two. I'm alright with anything happening if it makes you happy. That's all I care about, and you should know that by now, Wildfire."

Hayden smiled up at him, clearly still bothered despite his acceptance. "So what'd you say to him?"

"I told him that if he was going to do anything with you," Sirius began awkwardly, "he had to be ready to go all in. He can't do anything half-arsed."

Understanding dawned on Hayden. Remus had become all awkward because he didn't want to be all in. He liked her enough to kiss her, but not enough to be her boyfriend or anything like that. At least she knew what was happening now, she thought, trying to convince herself that it was a good thing. Sirius knew what was happening in her mind, and couldn't just leave her like that.

"You know Moony. He doesn't jump into anything until he's more than sure. It doesn't mean anything about you. He's just not ready to be the only one allowed to tickle you other than me!" He shouted as he started tickling his cousin, forcing her into distracted giggles.

As they walked through the castle, James kept trying to figure out what was going on with the Head Girl. The life was back in her eyes, and she had kissed him. Both were good signs. But now she wouldn't even look in his general direction. She was actually opening every single broom closet they passed, and he was pretty sure it was to avoid having a lull in which she'd have to look at him. Her thorough checking had resulted in detention to three different couples so far, much to his chagrin. As she opened a closet with another couple in it, James couldn't help but smirk approvingly. It was a pair of fifth year Gryffindors that he had helped get together. After they ran off with their detention slips, Lily turned on him.

"See, Potter! This is how I know you haven't changed! You're the same immature, arrogant toe rag that you've always been!"

"It's Potter now?!" James demanded. He had no idea where the anger was coming from, after all he was shocked that she had said anything to him at all. Their rounds were almost over and he'd assumed they'd finish them in the awkward silence they'd been maintaining the entire evening, but instead, his mouth kept going. "I've been around for you, trying to be there for you for months! I've been nothing but respectful! I haven't picked on Snivellus once, even when Padfoot wanted to for Halloween! And it's back to Potter?!"

Lily turned the same color as her hair. He was right after all. Sometime during that time that he'd been around and respectful, she'd started getting butterflies and stomach swoops from him and it terrified her. She couldn't admit any of that to the man in front of her though. So, she ran to the Gryffindor common room, not caring that her rounds weren't really over yet, leaving James standing there feeling like a fool for uttering those words.

When she arrived at the common room, Lily searched for her friends. She found them all in front of the fireplace with Remus, Peter, and Sirius. Hayden saw her arrive and knew it was time for the four of them to have a girls night in their dorm. It had been far too long since they had talked about everything that had happened. She stood and bounced over to Lily, before turning back to the fire.

"Girls, we're having a slumber party tonight!" Hayden declared, ignoring the looks of confusion on Alice and Marlene's faces. Slumber parties were Hayden's favorite concept from the muggle world, and when they'd all lived in the same dorm, she'd never gotten to have one before. Now that Lily lived in the Head Dorm, she could sleep over in their dorm and make it a slumber party! Hayden looped her arm through Lily's and marched to the staircase with a huge smile plastered over her face, leaving Marlene and Alice to follow questioningly.

After they'd all changed into their pajamas, Hayden made them sit on the floor in front of their beds.

"Okay, so seriously. What are we doing?" Marlene groaned, yet again.

"We're having a slumber party! So we're gonna stay up all night and talk and gossip and have snacks and have fun!" Hayden announced gleefully.

"Talk? About what? We talk all the time," Marlene questioned, while a slight blush started creeping up her face. Alice rolled her eyes at Marlene's pathetic attempt at ignorance.

"You and Black, Marley? What's going on there?" Lily jumped in, forcing Marlene's blush to deepen and grow.

"Well, Halloween we snogged. And I really like him, and now we're a thing I guess," she mumbled looking at the floor, desperate for her moment in the spotlight to be over. "What about you and Potter?"

"I don't know. He's always been so arrogant and annoying and over the top. But, well, he's been so good and kind the past few months. I think I might like him, but that's impossible, isn't it?" Lily gushed to her friends, hoping for someone to agree that it was impossible. Instead, every one of them grinned at each other and started shrieking with glee.

They had all watched James and Lily over the years. Alice had looked on with rose-colored glasses, thinking about how sweet it would be if they ever got together. She could see from the start how much James cared for Lily, and how much each rejection hurt the boy. She also noticed how much more creative James' proposals had gotten over the years, picking up on some of Lily's favorite things. Marlene watched Lily, noticing how much more embarrassed she actually was before rejecting James. She also noticed how much more ranting about the boy Lily did as she grew up. Hayden paid attention to everything, watching how irate Lily got each time James tried to gain a bit of affection, and seeing the look in James' eyes when he looked at Lily, thinking no one noticed him. He loved her, that much Hayden had always known. Lily though, she was stubborn. Lily had decided after the very first time that he had asked her out, which was at the Gryffindor table their first day of classes and was crazy over-the-top to be fair, that James was big-headed, arrogant, obnoxious, and overall a jerk. She had been sticking to that decision ever since, denying the feelings she was slowly developing for him. Lily had spent 6 years ignoring the fact that James was always learning what made her smile and what made her mad. He had spent his time learning how to make her happy, while she had spent her time ignoring that and focusing on the annoying things he did. She had spent her time ignoring his good qualities so that she could stay friends with Severus and be right about James.

In truth though, those years had shown her some of James' best qualities, and the past few months was proof that he had grown up. He could be patient now. He was a good, kind, compassionate soul who couldn't let his friends suffer alone. And now that she was back to herself, Lily was forced to face that truth.

"Lily, James has been in love with you since first year. He's always been good, and sweet, and kind. You just didn't want to see that part of him. I think you guys would make a cute couple, but I also think it's your turn to make a move," Hayden stated. She had never been one to keep her thoughts to herself, and enjoyed finally being able to state the obvious to her friend, who blushed furiously.

"What about you and Remus?" Alice jumped in, saving Lily from finding some kind of response to say on the spot.

"I don't know. I like him, a lot, but he's been avoiding me all day. Turns out, Sirius had a talk with him, telling him he needed to be all in if he was going to start anything with me, so I guess Remus doesn't want anything really," responded Hayden, looking at the floor. Alice and Marlene glanced at each other, and knew that while Hayden believed it to be true, it couldn't be. They looked to Lily, who shook her head minutely, signaling that Hayden wasn't ready to hear that yet. Lily knew that if Hayden was told the truth, she would dive in head first, probably chasing Remus away.

Marlene was never good with prolonged silence though. So as the three girls shifted uncomfortably, waiting for someone to say something or for Hayden to look up from the floor, she decided to cause some noise with a flick of her wand.

"What the hell?! Let me down!" Hayden screamed, hanging in the air by her ankle, while the other three giggled madly. They spent the rest of their evening pulling pranks on each other and laughing.

Tuesday and most of Wednesday passed slowly, as the awkwardness continued between Lily, Hayden, James, Remus, and Peter and the anticipation for the first party mounted. Plus, Sirius had spent the day acting like he was their king, as was tradition. While it was his birthday, it didn't mean that his demands from his royal birthday subjects were any more welcome, especially since he got lazier and therefore more demanding with each year. The boys had called it enough when he tried to get them to spoon feed him for lunch.

Wednesday dinner finally arrived, marking the beginning of the week's birthday celebrations. Hayden had gone to the kitchen to talk to Flutter about providing Sirius' dream birthday feast. The Gryffindor table was filled with bangers and mash, which Hayden volunteered to serve to his birthday highness. She dished it up the way they had when they were children. The mash surrounded beans in the centre of the plate, and the sausages were stood in the mash. He grinned at the display as he took his plate from his cousin. They always used to get in trouble for playing with their food when they dished it up this way at family events, so they did it every time it was served.

After the girls finished eating, they sprinted for the girls dormitory to change into muggle clothes for the party that was about to begin in the common room. James brought Sirius to the head dorm to relax before the party began, thus ensuring he wouldn't see anything before he should nor would he get in the way. Meanwhile, Remus was in charge of bringing the cake up from the kitchens and Peter was off gathering other snacks and beverages.

When Sirius was finally allowed to enter the common room, he was in awe. It glittered with red and gold hangings and banners, charmed by Lily and Hayden, the best at Charms in their class. One of the banners was red with gold lettering that spelled out, "Happy 18th Padfoot". There was a mountain of presents, all wrapped in red and gold, which had been kept from the birthday boy all day, to his disappointment. Behind the present mound, his magnificent cake resided on a desk. It was a three tier cake with each tier frosted in a different color. The bottom and top squares were red, while the middle square was gold. There were four young men chasing each other around the cake on broomsticks. And the top of the cake had the golden snitch painted beautifully with icing.

Sirius grinned wildly at the beautiful women standing next to the cake and the handsome men standing on the other side. Of course the seventh years had put this all together for him. He barely kept silent as the entire common room burst into song on Hayden's count, singing Happy Birthday to the first marauder to turn 18.


	8. Chapter 8 -Another Cake & a Winning Play

"How did you idiots figure this out before us?" Hayden whined to the marauders, causing Sirius to put on a shocked and hurt expression.

"Are you calling me dumb, Wildfire? Ugh! Flower-petal, do you agree with her?!" He had been trying out a variety of different nicknames for Lily, as he had decided that if they were to continue spending so much time together, _everyone_ needed a proper name. He had yet to figure out one that Lily actually approved of, not that it was stopping him from using them anyway.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her happy memory, trying to ignore James' arrogant guffaw. "I can't believe your cousin just called us idiots. Doesn't she know anything we've done?"

"I know you guys can be smart, you just act so stupid most of the time that it's easy to forget. Other than Remus that is," Hayden replied with a blush creeping across her face. She had no idea how she was supposed to be able to make her patronus take a corporeal form when the man of her dreams was actively avoiding her despite their kiss. Every time she tried to come up with her most powerfully happy memory, it came back to that kiss…which was then quickly followed by the crushing disappointment of his clear rejection. Even worse was that it clearly wasn't bothering Remus, as the only three in the class to have cast corporeal patronuses at that point was him, Sirius, and James. She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts, _again_ , and refocused on the task at hand.

'Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. That kiss…NO. Something different. Something with Stormy maybe? Happy memories…' And suddenly it hit her. That summer, when they were going into their final year at Hogwarts and embracing the magic and making it amazing, before all the bad stuff had hit, Hayden, Lily, and the marauders had spent a day together. On this day, they had gone on no adventures and pulled no pranks, at least at first. Instead, they had gone to a local muggle playground that had been surprisingly empty considering it was June, and they had laid in the grass in the clearing next to it. It was just the six of them. And they looked at the clouds. It had started as them pondering their future, but then Lily explained the game muggle children played of finding different shapes in the clouds, and they all joined in on it. That was nothing too special though. The moment of pure happiness had come from Sirius.

"Look! There's a dog chasing a stag with a flower on its back! IT'S FATE! IT'S MEANT TO BE!" he'd exclaimed, suddenly jumping to a seat and looking around excitingly while pointing to the supposed cloud shapes. The remaining five Gryffindors searched the clouds for the supposed shapes of fate. Hayden was the first to see it, but she had seen additional shapes. She had also found a fire licking a perfect moon.

"STORMY! YOU'RE RIGHT! IT IS FATE! ALL OF IT!" she yelled back to him, also sitting up. The two cousins made eye contact, and then burst into laughter. It was the kind of laughter that started loudly, but then became maniacal, until the parties involved were gasping for breath and were sure they'd never get enough air to survive. It was a laughter that made every one of their classmates sit up and look at them as though they were insane.

As she pictured that moment, Hayden tried once more. "Expecto patronum," and this time, a shape took form instead of a silver mist.

A silver wolf burst from the tip of her wand, and the room froze. It started at astonishment at a new corporeal patronus. But then everyone started glancing between the two misty wolves present. No one said anything, but the two casters looked at the wolves in awe before looking at each other with red crawling across their faces. While Remus and Hayden blushed furiously and glanced around to avoid making eye contact for too long, James and Sirius grinned at each other quickly.

"Wormy! You let someone beat you! The marauders weren't first after all," James chastised with a chuckle. Peter knew his friend was joking with him, but couldn't help but feel a sting of disappointment anyway. He was always the last of the marauders to learn new spells. It made sense that Hayden would have no interest in him. Especially in comparison with Moony. He never even stood a chance.

Before Peter's self-admonishments could go for too long, a silver doe burst from Lily's wand, causing another silence to fall within the classroom. Lily was just grateful that class was so close to over because at that moment, Professor Merrythought spoke up.

"Well students, that makes five of you to have created a corporeal patronus. Remember to meditate on the charm and think about happier memories over the weekend," he wheezed with a wave of dismissal. As the five patronuses vaporized, the eight Gryffindors forgot all the awkwardness between them and grinned broadly at each other. The time for celebration had arrived.

###

After dinner, the girls all went straight for Lily's dorm room this time. Since it was Hayden's party, the boys were in charge of setting up, although Lily arrived at the common room early to make sure it was all done correctly. She was the first declared party ready by Marlene, and Hayden was the last, for exactly that purpose. Finally, Alice, Marlene, and Hayden sashayed across the seventh floor to the fat lady's portrait, where her friends overtook the birthday girl so as to beat her to the party.

It was another magical display. The decorations were similar to those at Sirius' party, but that was of no consequence to Hayden. She only had eyes for the seven, as Marlene and Alice had raced across the common room to stand at Lily's side, Gryffindors who made up her family at Hogwarts; most especially for the one male trying to shrink behind the others and be as invisible and separated from her as possible.

She dragged her eyes away from the people she so loved to look at the pile of presents and the cake! Hayden's cake was all red, with orange and gold details along the sides that danced as though they were flames. It was again three tiers tall, enough cake to feed every student in the common room, but this time it was circular with a beautiful golden lion roaring on the top tear. His jaw actually open and closed and he shook his mane as he roared.

"You guys! This is beautiful! Thank you!" Hayden squealed, before Sirius could begin his favorite part of every birthday celebration. He glared at her, and when he was sure she wasn't going to continue speaking, he stuck his tongue out at her and quickly cleared his throat before counting to three. On three, he began conducting all the students present in a chorus of "Happy Birthday" with his wand, while he shouted it out as though he was tone deaf. Hayden didn't care though. As terrible as his singing was at the moment, it was one of the signals to her that all was well with the world and her family was present and happy, at least for now. And she wouldn't give that up for anything.

"Okay! Now, OPEN PRESENTS!" Sirius barked at her, clearly impatient because she had waited a full three seconds after the song had ended to even attempt to move or say anything.

As she tore the red and gold wrappings on the gift from Remus aside, nerves flew through her. What could he have gotten her? Would it be something vague and impersonal, as would fit considering he didn't want a relationship with her? Or would it be something that reminded her why she was in love with him? Hayden turned the gift so that she saw the front of it and nearly dropped it in wonder. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at it, causing Remus to panic.

He had tried to keep a distance and a space between them for her protection, but that didn't keep him from getting her a gift that she would actually appreciate. So he tried to maintain his distance as she opened her gifts, but couldn't help but creep forward as she grabbed his gift. When her eyes filled with tears, Remus worried that she hated the photo, or worse, he had disappointed her by getting her something so simple. He was in no way expecting her to look up at him with a bright smile spread across her face.

"Thank you, Remus. It's perfect," Hayden said softly as she closed the space between them to give him a hug. It was barely more than a second before Sirius was pulling her back to the presents to finish unwrapping her haul. As was tradition, she received a beautiful watch from her parents, with planets circling its face. Her friends had given her more red and gold ink, along with some hot pink and neon green ink that could actually glow like a muggle neon sign if she said a simple incantation after she wrote with it. They had also bought her books on defensive charms and dueling. Sirius had given her a locket that featured a picture of the cousins in one side and a picture of Hayden and Lily on the other. James had bought her the Star Wars comic book they had all looked at together over the summer, and Peter had bought Hayden buckets of her favorite candies: chocolate frogs and cauldrons, sugar quills, and laughing taffy, that seemed to consist mostly of the yellow banana flavored, which was her favorite flavor.

After thanking all of her friends profusely, Hayden was finally allowed to bring her haul to her dorm and call it a night. It had been a short party, but that was to be expected of any party that happened the night before a quidditch match. James was one of the party ringleaders after all, and if there was quidditch, that meant he had an early morning. Which also meant that Sirius would be dragged along for said early morning, despite the fact that the matches actually started at decent times. As she piled her gifts on her bed, the first she separated was the wooden picture frame containing a photo of herself, Sirius and Lily from Remus. She placed it on her bedside table where she could see it perfectly from her bed, before laying out her watch and locket out next to it. Finally, Hayden laid her other gifts out as though on display in front of her nightstand, and then she crawled into her pajamas and laid down for the night. Remus' gift had really been perfect, even more so than he could ever imagine. Hayden decided she'd need to explain it to him sometime, before she drifted off to sleep.

###

"Welcome fellow students! It's our first quidditch match of the season: Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff! And here they come now! Ravenclaw captain and beater Emily Sumac leads the Eagles in," Keeley Abbott exclaimed into a megaphone that amplified her voice around the quidditch pitch, as Sumac waved in acknowledgment. "Now for the rest of the Ravenclaw team, we have: Jennifer Hamm, Nevin Brown, Marie Barnes, Douglas Dincher, Tristan O'Neil, and Richard Rau." Before Abbott had even finished announcing the names, the students cheering for Ravenclaw had burst into applause and screams for their team.

"And representing the mighty Badgers are: Nicollette Schwab, Dwight Dunham, Rosalia Twigs, Wheatley Chell, Phillip Downs, and William Steiner, led by their fearless captain: Melvin Basset!" Abbott continued into her megaphone, before dropping her arm and cheering for her team.

The eight Gryffindors cheered for the Hufflepuff team quietly, at least for them, before the girls continued to talk about the plans for the weekend. After all, the biggest party of the week was that night. Sirius and Hayden had grown up celebrating their birthdays together, and coming to Hogwarts hadn't stopped them, even when their friends insisted that they each get their own parties. Instead, the Gryffindor common room was home to two big parties and one huge party the first week of November every year, and none of the lions minded in the least. Unfortunately, the boys had plans before the party this year. Well, really Filch had plans for them in retaliation for their Halloween prank.

"So, while the boys have their detention, I guess Hayden will need to make the first couple food runs. Then, Alice and I can work on decorations while Marlene does all of her preparation for us," Lily stated with a roll of her eyes.

Hayden stifled a giggle as she nodded in agreement, "Perfect! I get the fun job!"

"Mount your brooms! And 3, 2…" A whistle screeched from Madam Hooch as the game began. Marlene joined James and Sirius in their complete analysis of each team's playing. Hayden however, took the moment of distraction to lean to Lily and whisper to her.

"You know that if you're going to say anything to him, it has to be during the game, right?"

Lily locked eyes with Hayden for a moment, before she nodded, glanced to James, and then looked back to the game. Hayden jumped onto the bench and walked to Sirius' other side to commentate with him and Marlene, which unfortunately put her next to Remus. Now that she had walked over there though, it wasn't like she could walk away without making things worse. Hayden tried to lean over to say something to Sirius to ignore and avoid and maybe even forget who she was next to, but looked over to see him snogging his new girlfriend. Marls was the boy-crazy one, so of course she would kiss Sirius at every chance. But if this kept happening every time they were together, it was going to get really old really fast. As it was, this was going to be a very long match, she complained to herself as she tried to focus on the game.

"Basset passes the quaffle to Dunham, who passes it to Downs, who throws it back to Basset, who is hit with a bludger from that slimy O'Neil! Sorry Professor! Now Rau has the quaffle and Barnes and Dincher are flanking him. The three of them are using their characteristic Hawkshead Attacking Formation to pass the quaffle between them. It looks like it's going to come down to Twigs to save it and…Barnes shoots while the other two fly above the hoops, and Twigs saves it!" Abbott cheered with the rest of the Hufflepuffs as their keeper caught the quaffle and began flying it to the other end of the pitch. Around a quarter of the way there, Twigs swung her broom wide and threw the quaffle to Basset who was flying almost directly behind her, and then returned to her defensive position at the hoops.

"Looks like they're going to have a hard time beating Hufflepuff's defense this year."

"Yea, definitely. Twigs is good. I'm surprised we haven't seen her before this year. And she's offensive! That's going to be a hard combo to tackle," Hayden replied without skipping a beat.

"Wildfire! Are you doubting our Aila?!" Sirius jumped in, making Hayden realize he wasn't who she'd been replying to.

"Of course not! I'm just saying that their new keeper is good!" she retorted, before glancing over to where Remus was leaning against the rails, which was incidentally right next to her, and where the initial comment that she'd responded to had come from. "Though both of these teams do have a decent offense this year," Hayden yelled over the triumphant cheers of the Hufflepuff supporters for the first goal of the game.

"But their seekers aren't doing anything!" scoffed Sirius, earning a reproving glare from James.

"They're staying out of the way and avoiding getting injured," he lectured. Besides being a marauder, a flirt, and a loudmouth, Sirius was best known in the school for being the most injured team seeker. That being said, he was also the best seeker in the school and there'd been rumors of team recruiters keeping an eye on him over the years.

To the lecture from his team captain, all Sirius did was roll his eyes. It wasn't as though James told him to do anything different during practices or games. In fact, it was James' idea that he cause distractions throughout the game in the first place, though that was only after Sirius had distracted the Gryffindor players more than anyone else when he first became seeker two years ago. Switching from being the center of it all as a beater to staying out of the way as a seeker wasn't easy for Sirius, so James had embraced it.

An hour later, the score was 70 to 50 with Ravenclaw in the lead, and both seekers were still hovering uselessly above the action. Hayden, Marlene, Sirius, James, and Remus were all still analyzing every maneuver to each other and stating what that would mean for their team, though Hayden kept glancing over at Lily who still hadn't made a move to speak to James, but was instead talking to Alice about their classwork.

"Oh come on Hufflepuff! Pick up your offense! Erm," Abbott chastised her team as Ravenclaw scored once more, earning her a scold and a glare from Professor McGonagall, "that is, 10 points to Ravenclaw making it 80 to 50! And Downs has the quaffle!"

"I told you, Hufflepuff has the defense, but the keeper alone can't be the defense. That's why we need to up our defensive work Marley," explained James, once again. "However, I do think our offensive skills outmatch Ravenclaws, hm?"

Lily had discontinued her conversation with Alice just as Ravenclaw had scored. So she was starting to lean over to James when he repeated his lecture on what the chasers needed to work on. Lily licked her lips and looked up at James, her heart fluttering madly as his eyes flicked from chaser to chaser, following the quaffle. She cleared her throat as she started playing with her hands, before she looked up again to meet his eyes and began speaking.

"James, I know you have detention soon and that you're really busy in general, but," Lily swallowed hard and she started squirming. How did Hayden ever talk to Remus and meet his eyes at the same time? All Lily wanted to do was escape James' gaze, at least until she caught a glimpse of Hayden leaning over to check and see if she was talking to him yet. That glimpse was enough to remind Lily of the fierceness that the two of them shared, so she took a deep breath and finished, "would you be my date to the party tonight?"

James felt as though he'd been stupefied. He had no idea what he'd been expecting her to say, but to actually ask him out?! James just kept looking into her eyes in search of some sign that she'd been jinxed or hexed or that this was a joke, but he couldn't see anything. Lily just looked up at him with her jewel green eyes, a hopeful smile on her lips, waiting for him to realize that this was not some form of elaborate prank. As James seemed to accept that the girl of his dreams had actually asked him out, a few things happened on the quidditch pitch.

First, the seekers finally started moving, catching even Madam Hooch's eye. At nearly the same time, Dincher intercepted a pass between Basset and Downs. A millisecond after that, O'Neil slammed a bludger at Twigs, causing her to slump on her broomstick and tip off of it. She barely managed to hang on to it with the hand that wasn't attached to her now injured shoulder and there were interspersed gasps throughout the crowd, as not all of them had even seen it yet. The gasps continued as more of the watching students and staff saw what was happening, not even a second later, as Dincher made it into the scoring zone and threw the quaffle. Madam Hooch finally flew to Twigs' aide, and Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were all crying for a penalty to be called. The crowd was so immersed in the goal just scored for Ravenclaw that they all forgot that the seekers had seen something, at least until Hufflepuff's Schwab flew to the center of the pitch with her arm raised triumphantly. Everyone's heads were spinning.

In a matter of maybe a minute, the quaffle had been intercepted, the Hufflepuff keeper had been fouled and injured by the beater O'Neil without the referee realizing it was a foul, Ravenclaw had scored another goal, and Hufflepuff had won the game due to a speedy capture of the snitch by their seeker. The final score was 200 to 90, and suddenly the first match of the year was at an end. James only managed to wrap his head around the fact that the game was over before he took off running, leaving Lily standing amongst her friends clueless. She looked from housemate to housemate, searching for some clue as to what was happening to no avail. She did manage to catch Alice tearing up again, this time at Lily's proposal to James.

They all looked to the pitch, giving up momentarily on figuring out where James had run off to. Madam Hooch and Melvin Basset had finally gotten Rosalia to the ground, where Madam Pomfrey was already fussing over her and conjuring a stretcher to bring her back to the Hospital Wing. The nurse wasn't appreciating the crowd of Hufflepuff quidditch players celebrating their win around Rosalia. They'd already tried to celebrate with her, but first they'd caused her pain as apparently the bludger got her in the shoulder so any pats on the back or triumphant arm motions were problematic, then they had knocked over Madam Pomfrey, who still was irritated at that and was slowly succeeding in maneuvering the keeper from the pitch. But only very slowly as other Hufflepuff students kept making their way onto the pitch to celebrate with their team.

The ruckus only gained enthusiasm when one of the students took off on a broomstick. As he swooped over the commentator's podium and snatched the megaphone, Lily recognized the messy black hair and realized he was about to embarrass the living daylights out of her… _again_.

"Lily Evans," he announced as he glided over to where the redhead and marauders stood in the stadium, "has just asked me on a date. My answer to the gorgeous flower in front of me is, it's about damn time."

While butterflies flew through her stomach, Lily's face turned from pale pink to tomato red, blushing harder with each word James said. She had a date with James Potter! That night! Before she had a chance to process how strange being excited over that was, she was in the air. "James!" she shrieked, "What are you-"

James had passed the megaphone to Sirius and then yanked her off her feet. She was now sitting side saddle on the broomstick he was riding as he flew them around the pitch to the cheers of almost all the students and staff members. Lily was clinging to him, her fingers digging into his shoulder blades as though that was the only thing keeping her on the broomstick. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was pressed against his chest, so she could feel his warm chuckles rumble across her cheek. In reality, James had Lily resting on his legs with his arms around her to hold onto the broomstick, and he was even keeping _both_ hands on it to make her feel better, though one of his hands was holding the broom lightly so if she were to somehow lose balance he could catch her in the blink of an eye.

The Slytherin section was the only one that didn't respond to James' laden victory lap, other than a greasy-haired seventh year who felt his heart crack and his blood boil, though that response was a silent repression of tears. As they flew over the Ravenclaws, cheers and laughter roared.

When James reached the professors, his chuckle grew louder at their responses. Slughorn was chuckling, but as their flight brought them overhead he gave a jolly little hop, raised his hand in triumph, and cheered a little whoop. McGonagall gave James a disapproving glare, as usual, but it faltered showing a small grin hiding beneath it. At least until she turned her attention to chastising Professor Dumbledore. The old wizard had a gigantic smile across his face from the moment James had taken the megaphone and had been laughing their entire flight thus far, but as they flew overhead Dumbledore cried out, "Just in time," before looking at McGonagall and saying, "that's ten galleons, my dear Minerva!" His eyes twinkled with mirth at the chastisement from her as he looked back at James.

The Gryffindors were the last house in the stands that James flew by. Every one of them was ecstatic and cheering as loud as they could for the couple, except for their friends. Alice was applauding and essentially sobbing, while Marlene was giggling and turning to clap with the others after a giant hug with Sirius who cupped his hands to his mouth to holler, "WAY TO GO PRONGSIE! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT A DATE WITH SUNFLOWER!"

Hayden would have winced away from her cousin if she hadn't been expecting it. Instead, she made Remus and Peter wince, although how after they'd been Sirius' friend for all these years Hayden had no clue, yelling, "THAT'S MY GIRL! YOU FINALLY GOT YOUR MAN!"

Remus simply smirked his "I'm proud of you" grin, after recovering from the shock of Hayden's squeal, and tipped his nonexistent hat to the ecstatic marauder. Peter was grinning like a school boy who'd gotten out of school early to find his favorite candy waiting for him, and clapping as fiercely and quickly as he could, shouting a quick, "Way to go, James!" as his friend swooped around and began descending to the field where all the Hufflepuffs were applauding and cheering, no longer sure if they were cheering for James and Lily, for their win, or both. Even Madam Pomfrey, who never seemed to smile at anything, looked delighted and cheered softly for the two.


	9. Chapter 9 - Party On

**Apparently I forgot about the little note at the top last time...whoops. I owe this fiction in its entirety to J.K. Rowling and the world she created. Also, PLEASE keep reviewing! I've gotten a few reviews recently and they seriously have made my day each time! Positive, negative, ideas, questions, I'll take the lot!**

Lunch had been a mix between strangely silent and oddly giggly, as the four girls couldn't keep from laughing every time they made eye contact with each other, but Lily was refusing to speak to James after he'd dragged her around the pitch like a prize. Honestly, she was still a bit in shock that she had a date with him that night, and while she had actually really enjoyed the flight after she realized what was happening, there was no way her pride was willing to tell him that just yet. The boys were all chuffed with him, but were waiting until detention to celebrate. After all, what was detention other than a time to hang out with only each other?

Now that lunch was over though, the Marauders were wandering to their detention and the girls were taking off to work on preparing for the party that evening. They were guessing that detention would last the guys around four hours, so the party was starting in five. The girls walked and chattered together, letting off random squeals as well, as long as they could. Hayden was the first to separate from the gaggle of gossips, as she was only walking to the third floor. The others continued to the Gryffindor common room, but Hayden was off to Hogsmeade.

She was so elated for Lily and James, and proud of Lily for taking control and for being brave enough to accept that he really wasn't the obnoxious berk that he used to be, that Hayden didn't realize she was returning to Hogsmeade for the first time since she'd met Bellatrix there. She should have realized during their planning, but she'd been so excited for the party that it hadn't occurred to her. Unfortunately, she didn't really have time to dwell on it because she was already at Honeydukes.

Hayden gulped as she pushed the trapdoor up a crack to check the coast was clear, which it was. Why had this seemed like such a good idea? How had she forgotten what had happened the last time she was in Hogsmeade? And now she had to wander the town by herself? What a grand plan. Hayden berated their planning skills and panicked over the surely imminent arrival of death eaters the entire time she was in the town, traipsing from the Hogs Head to Honeydukes and back, until she had enough liquor to last the night, which meant way more than anyone would buy for two years in their right mind, before she made her first return trip to Hogwarts. The passageway always took longer than she expected, and it didn't help that Hayden was _not_ a fan of going uphill. She finally emerged from the one-eyed lady's hump to see Sirius and James standing there waiting for her.

"You're out of detention already?! How'd you manage that?"

"Easy, Filch doesn't know," snickered Sirius.

"Remus is covering for us and will let us know if our hologram charms wear off," James explained at Hayden's exasperated expression. "Anyway, now you have more than an hour to get ready and us _men_ can do all the heavy lifting," he winked, making her guffaw at the idea of James and Sirius being full-grown men. Maybe if she hadn't grown up dealing with all their idiot ideas she could see that but since she had, there was no chance. Hayden walked away laughing while the boys mocked pained expressions after her, before tapping the witch's hump with a quiet "Dissendium" to get in.

Now that James and Sirius were gone, Remus and Peter were actually managing to clean the trophies rather quickly. The hologram versions of the two marauders didn't talk or do anything but wipe their hands in circles as though they were cleaning a shield. Even so, Remus was pleased to see the spell the four of them had created was working so well. He was also pleased to have remembered his fake wand, unlike Peter who was stuck scrubbing the trophies by hand.

"How're things with Hayden?" Peter asked while he scrubbed, using that as his excuse to avoid eye contact with his best friend, who let out a long, tired sigh in response.

"Keeping distance isn't easy. She doesn't make it easy either," Remus lamented.

"So, why are you? Keeping distance, I mean?"

"She deserves better. She deserves someone who isn't a danger to her by merely existing. Someone who won't bring her prejudice and violence from the rest of the world."

Peter finally looked up at his friend to see him looking at the suit of armor he was magically scrubbing dejectedly. Maybe Peter did have a chance, if Remus wasn't going to do anything at least.

###

"Is she really dating him?"

Hayden jumped at the sudden voice and looked around to gather her bearings. Daydreaming about what Lily finally dating James could mean for her and Remus, she'd been following the path to the common room on autopilot. Snape's appearance on the 6th floor landing was definitely what Hayden would classify as an unwelcome interruption.

"Lily and James? Why should I tell you?" Hayden snapped at the young man in front of her. She locked eyes with his cold black ones, and felt the fire fade from her as she realized that he was actually truly hurting. Those black tunnels had never been warm or had much to them, but as she looked into them she realized that they were emptier than she had realized was possible.

"Just, is she? Please?" his voice was quieter than she had ever heard it before.

"Yes, and he's good for her," stated Hayden gently, yet firmly enough to leave an unsaid warning before he dropped his eyes to the floor and slithered down the stairs.

As Hayden watched him go, she realized that he essentially had no reason to be up this high, and he'd come from the 6th floor, not the stairs above. She glanced around thoughtfully and decided to wander across the level to see if she noticed anything, toting her bag of liquor and her gallon jug of butterbeer. She made it down to Professor Merrythought's office without any clues as to what old Snivelly had been up too, but then she heard the old lady moving around and realized she had almost exclusively illicit beverages on her at the moment, so she took off as quickly yet quietly as she could manage to get back to the main staircase.

When she arrived in the common room, she discovered that Lily and Alice had outdone themselves once more. There were golden lights seemingly strung around the room, although there were no wires to "string" up. Each light fell like a falling star between one and three feet, creating a romantic and bright atmosphere. There were red banners draped below and among those lights, creating a ballroom effect in their cozy home. There were no longer any rugs on the floor, which had been polished, making it seem more than ever as though it were a ballroom. The common room even seemed bigger than usual, which it probably was, even though setting up the couches so they lined the room rather than sat in its center added greatly to the illusion. They had also transfigured something into a disco ball that was spinning and levitating near the ceiling. The study alcoves were missing their chairs so that snacks and beverages could be set up on them.

Hayden wandered in, awestruck, and brought all her drinks to one of the study desks. Lily ran over immediately to start sorting the beverages. She, of course, would never condone the drinking of the illegal beverages for children, but she'd learned long ago that there was no stopping the marauders at a party. Instead, she always sorted the 15+ drinks out to set in a "grown up" alcove. She had tried to make it 17 only, or at least 16+, when she was made prefect, but this was the oldest they'd agreed to. As she carried them to the proper alcove, Sirius and James appeared with their first haul of beverages.

"Look at this, Prongsie-Poo! I should turn seventeen more often! But Sunflower missed the flowers!" Sirius exclaimed gleefully, making Lily roll her eyes. Apparently the name Sunflower was sticking. Before she could make a retort, Marlene had finished her jaunt down the stairs and was gathering the party organizers.

"Lils! Let's go! Alice and Hayden you too! We only have two hours before the party!" Everyone in the common room laughed at Lily's expression of fear at that chastisement.

###

Lily was _finally_ released from Marlene's torturous custody an hour and a half later. With only a half hour to ensure the common room was ready, she sprinted from her old dorm room to the common room to finish setting up, but was shocked to find that it wasn't how they'd left it. Apparently, the marauders really were growing up! They had sorted the drinks for themselves rather than making her do it. They had set up other alcoves for snacks and laid them out in a decorative manner. They had even added little vases with two sunflowers in each to the center of the snack tables, which was clearly Sirius' doing. She was actually impressed, maybe her slightly impulsive decision to make this a date with Potter - _no_ , _James_ \- Lily corrected, wasn't such a terrible one after all. Maybe it was actually a good one?

Before she could ponder on the thought for long, footsteps sounded from the boy's staircase and she snapped into business. One of the final details Lily had decided on was levitating glass orbs with fairies in them for lighting at the snack tables. Professor Flitwick had done it the Christmas before, and the students that had stayed for Christmas had absolutely gushed over it, so she was giving it a try. It was complicated to charm the orbs just right, but would be well worth it if she could pull it off. She was sorting through the spells she'd need when the footsteps approached her.

Remus was the first of the marauders to be ready for the party, mostly because he wanted to make sure everything was set for the party. Seeing the four Gryffindor girls, whom Sirius had started calling the Marauderettes, smile was a prize Remus often found himself working toward these days. When he stepped off the last stair and laid eyes on Lily, his breath hitched for a second. Remus had always known she was beautiful, but since he was sixteen, certain anatomy made it a point to remind him of the fact each time she appeared particularly stunning. He quickly made the appropriate adjustments before clearing his throat to announce his presence.

"You look gorgeous, Lily," Remus stuttered hoarsely.

"Oh, thank you Remus," returned Lily as she turned to face him, while trying to control the smirk that appeared on her sister's behalf at the sight of him. "You don't look too shabby yourself. I'm just putting the fairies up now."

He nodded in response as he inspected the room once more. Lily's magic inspired him while she cast her charms, so he conjured three Easter Lilies and one magenta Hibiscus per flower vase to create arrangements that represented James, Sirius, Lily, and Hayden. The flowers were quick work while Lily continued with her fairy conjuring, and Remus continued to be inspired. He flicked and twirled his wand, jabbing once and twirling again, while spells and charms flew through his mind and he focused on the outcome he wanted. Lily was watching his wand fly and his magic swirl and take shape by the time he ended his creation with a tap against the wall. The warm glow that had been lining the walls snapped to them and ignited with that tap, becoming rolling flames that glowed like a blazing forest fire, but without charring the walls or burning Lily as she ran her fingers through them.

"How did you do this? It's incredible," she gawked as she played with the flames between her fingers. Thankfully he heard footsteps from the boys' staircase so he had an excuse to not attempt to explain how his mind worked once more. It wasn't that he was a genius or anything like the Marauders liked to claim, his mind just worked differently. His magic was more instinctual than most students'. They had to study while he barely needed an incantation to cast a spell, and every time he was stuck trying to explain that to others, they looked at him as though he were a freak, or as though he was a genius which was basically the same thing.

James led the remaining Marauders down the spiral staircase to the common room. Since it was the final party, they were making it a classy one, at least until the children went to bed, so they were all dressed up in their finest dress robes. James was wearing his maroon dress robes that he had bought proudly to match with Sirius and Peter, though they were all still a bit disappointed that Remus had refused to let James buy him a set. All of the dress robes had bell bottom pants in the bold color that matched their robes, and they all had tight-fit disco shirts in varying paisleys with shirt collars that flipped over to nearly the edge of their shoulders. It was the disco shirts that they were all so proud of, purchased once more on one of those forays into the muggle shopping areas to appease Lily. Sirius had found them and demanded that they get them to go with some new dress robes for all the fantastic parties they were going to have that year, and so they had, each in a different color. James bought the classier maroon, while Sirius had taken a fancy to the bright red set of robes and Peter had purchased a set of ink green robes. As they stepped into the common room in their snazzy outfits, James froze, at least mostly. The most obvious motion he made was the drop of his jaw as he stared at Lily Evans, his date for the evening.

Her hair was pulled off to one side in a low, curled ponytail that draped across her shoulder, which was exposed by the first strapless dress Marlene had managed to force her into. It was olive green and it clung to her body until just below her hips, where it fell loosely to the floor. At the absence of footsteps, she turned to see who it was, and finally made eye contact with James. The longer he stared at her, the more nervous she got until the sound of heels came from the staircase now behind her, which she spun to hopefully, waiting on her old roommates.

Alice led the way in her modest, lilac, halter dress which flowed as though she was some ancient Goddess. Almost immediately behind her was Marlene, the only Marauderette not in a long dress, rather in a red one that reached to her thighs and had a light lace that made her modest, although the only thing that hid any of her body were the strips of fabric that wrapped around her under the lace periodically. Sirius was agog as he watched his girlfriend climb down the stairs to reach him. The final Marauderette was Hayden in a black dress that required magic to stay in place so perfectly. The black lace over the bodice of her dress decorated the sweetheart neckline elegantly before it created sleeves that simply wrapped around her upper arms. The dress seemed perfect enough before her next step down revealed her leg all the way to her hip, showing its entirety while still perfectly covering everything.

Remus and Peter had managed to watch each girl for their descent until Hayden took that step. When her stiletto strapped foot emerged, Remus was hooked. He wasn't shallow; it was nothing like that, but with Hayden every glimpse seemed a heavenly escape into a fantasy he could never have. So, he watched her foot turn into an exposed calf, which in turn revealed her thigh until there was almost nothing left to his imagination. When she took her next step down, Hayden's dress draped across her revealed thigh, giving him a moment to steal his glance back in order to drink in the rest of her appearance. Her lips were a bold red that popped against her pale skin while her hair cascaded across her right shoulder.

Lily finally turned back to James after her best friend had made it down the stairs safely, and found that his eyes had never left her, much to her surprise. Hayden had to fight the chuckle at her friend's shock to keep from embarrassing her as she walked over to the adult alcove, which she could finally drink from without getting reproving glares from Lily throughout the night.

"Y-y-you," came a soft, squeaky voice from Hayden's side, before a deep breath and a fresh start. "Y-you look lovely tonight, Hayden."

She paused from her inquiry of the alcohols to talk to Peter, who was standing next to her.

"Awww, thanks Pete. You look very nice yourself," she replied warmly, giving him a smile.

"I do? I-I mean," he squeaked before clearing his throat with as much baritone as he could muster. He adopted the air of arrogance he'd seen Sirius use on girls over the years, "you know it, babe. I went and picked it up with the other marauders."

"Um, Pete? I know, I was there that day, remember? Why are you being so weird?" Hayden chuckled as she took note of all the Lions joining the party. She poured herself some elf-made wine, deciding she should hold off on the whiskey until at least a few of the first years had trickled to bed.

###

As Lily neared James slowly, nervously, they locked eyes. James had so many thoughts running through his head he didn't know where to start, until he saw the first of the Gryffindors stream down the staircases and he knew that he needed to start this date off with just the two of them. As soon as she was close enough, he took her arm and steered her to the portrait hole. When it was closed behind them, James took a deep breath to begin.

"Lily, I-"

"Well don't you look lovely tonight Ms. Evans?" came a squeaky voice the students recognized as their Charms Professor's immediately, while the Fat Lady sniggered next to them. Lily jumped at the sound of his voice and immediately pulled away from James as though caught doing something indecent, instead of just looking at him questioningly.

"Oh, good evening Professor Flitwick! Thank you so much, sir." James had to muzzle himself to keep from teasing Lily for being such a brown-noser, while the professor brightened at her charm. "I actually tried to replicate what I've heard of some of your Christmas decorations, and I'd be honored if you would tell me how I did."

"Oh my dear girl, of course I would. I'll just leave you out here then, shall I?" the short man suggested with a wink that made Lily blush.

"Oh yes sir, that'd be perfect. I was just hoping to speak to her for a moment before rejoining the party," James interjected before Lily could speak, looking at the Fat Lady to gauge if he'd need to use the password or not. She swung her portrait open with a wave to the professor, who was enchanted by the common room, and most especially by its flaming walls, as soon as he saw it. Once he was through, James led Lily down the few steps in front of the portrait hole to put a bit of distance between them and the Fat Lady.

"So, Potter wants to speak to me, huh? What _ever_ did I do to earn such an honor?" Lily teased as her nerves began subsiding. In return, James spun on the spot so abruptly that Lily collided with him and began to fall. He wrapped his quidditch toned arms around her, holding her in an off-balanced, tight embrace, which made her breath catch and her heart skip a beat. James noticed and held her where she was, where they could feel each other's body heat radiating and a palpable tension started growing between them as they locked eyes.

"Ah, Potter! Evans! I was…Ms. Evans are you alright?" Professor McGonagall inquired as James leapt to help her from where he dropped her at the sound of their teacher's voice.

Lily giggled softly as she made her way back to standing with the shoes that Marlene had made her wear, "Yes Professor, I'm fine."

"Oh good. I was just looking for you to remind you that you are both fully responsible for anything that happens tonight at this celebration and I do expect you to handle it properly. If any drunken Marauder shenanigans occur, there shall be severe repercussions; the most severe of which shall be directed at you."

"Of course Professor," Lily began before James cut in.

"I can personally assure you that no Marauder shenanigans, drunken or otherwise, will take place tonight. I won't pretend that everyone will be sober at the end of the night, but everyone will be safe."

Lily and Professor McGonagall both looked shocked at the sudden honesty and responsibility James was displaying.

"Very well then, I'll just go and take a look around then. I expect I was interrupting something," she drifted off as she turned to pass through the portrait hole.

Lily and James met each other's eyes once more before bursting into laughter. Before their laughter had died, another booming laugh of a professor joined theirs. All James had wanted was a few minutes to tell Lily how beautiful she was, and instead they had become the students on display for a rotation of professors.

"Ho ho! If it isn't our Head students!" Slughorn's jolly voice echoed as he approached them. "I was just off to visit with Professor Merrythought."

"But sir, isn't her office downstairs?" questioned James with a smirk.

"Well, yes, yes I suppose it is. I must have been wandering without thinking, you know how that goes," he faltered, inventing a plausible excuse for being on the wrong floor. "Right, I should be going then. But Ms. Evans I have to say that you look gorgeous, and Mr. Potter, those robes are quite a statement. Have fun," he concluded with a wink, as he turned around to retrace his steps to the staircase.

"How many more interruptions do you think we'll have before this date can actually start?" James chortled to Lily with a shake of his head.

"At least one more," came the aging voice of Professor Dumbledore from around the corner, "Though I am glad I am not the only interruption of your magical evening. I need to ask you to come by my office tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, of course sir," answered Lily like the star pupil she was.

"You'll find invitations in your dorm room. But, I've heard quite a lot about these parties, and I'd quite like to see this one," he stated as he began moving toward the portrait hole.

"I think you'll find it to be our best, Professor. Lily here pulled out all the stops," James beamed.

"Remus did all the real work. He did some amazing magic in there," Lily gushed to James.

"I look forward to seeing it. And I'm sure you'll be along shortly and I won't need to check broom cupboards when I leave?" Dumbledore probed, accepting a nod from James and the deep blush rising on Lily's cheeks as more than enough answer before exchanging pleasantries with the Fat Lady and entering the common room.

" _You_ are just too loved by the teachers," he teased Lily, "Four interruptions before the date even started?"

"Oh, you think it's all because of me? It has _nothing_ to do with how loud and obnoxious you've been with your attempts to get me to date you?" she goaded back to him, as her blush began to fade.

"Well, I wouldn't have been so loud if you hadn't been so worth it," James took a step toward her, leaving almost a foot of space between them and forcing her to crane her neck to meet his eyes. "They were right though."

"Well look at that, James Potter admitting a professor was right? I never thought I'd see it," Lily retorted breathlessly.

"They weren't blind," James managed huskily, placing his hand on her shoulder and sliding it down her arm tenderly, "You truly do look ravishing."

###

Back in the common room, Hayden and Peter had joined Remus and Alice on the side of the room, where they were watching the professors chat idly as though they belonged at the party. Sure, there was no reason they couldn't be there, but moments where they seemed like normal people were always unnerving to the students. Sirius and Marlene were already snogging in a corner somewhere, so the other four weren't missing them too terribly.

"Prewett!" one of the second years was beckoning Hayden, who sighed to her friends.

"Anyone want to join me? No? Imagine that," she rolled her eyes as the others chuckled at her unwillingness to go and be nice to the younger students. Of course she'd be the sweetest thing, that's why they felt comfortable beckoning her after all, but she always had to prepare for it, which usually meant a bit of grumbling before she wandered over.

"Hey Vance, what's up?" she asked the dirty blonde who had called her over. The nearby first years were in awe watching the interaction and all of the students had glasses of butterbeer in their hands.

"Happy birthday of course!" the young girl squealed.

"Aww thanks. I can't believe I'm seventeen already."

"It's totally amazing! Especially after Hogsmeade."

"What?" Hayden stammered, paling suddenly.

"Well, I mean facing Black and Rosier. It was kind of amazing."

"Oh. Well, I mean, sure. I guess," Hayden stammered, glancing over her shoulder to her friends. It wasn't like she had discussed the incident with anyone but them, so it made sense that people had questions, but now? At her favorite party of the year?

"I mean, was it terrifying? What happened?" As Hayden looked up from her nails, she understood that this was really why she was called over. Vance's boldness was what the first years had been admiring. Everyone nearby had overheard the questions and were looking on eagerly now. She didn't need to answer them of course, but it wouldn't hurt her to tell them, would it? And it'd make them happy?

With another brief, yet desperate, glance to Remus, Peter, and Alice, Hayden downed what was left of her wine, and dove in.

"I was yelling at Reg, my cousin, about something I overheard and then Bella was there. She sent a curse at me and I started fighting with her and then we were dueling. Next thing I know she's using the Cruciatus Curse and I'm wishing for death. Then Sto - I mean Sirius showed up and Bella was gone and then the Marauders were there and the world went black," Hayden gushed, trying not to let any of the images or memories of the incident stay in her mind for longer than necessary. This was too much, it really wasn't a good idea. The knot in her chest was coming back and starting to hurt.

"Hayden impressed us all that day," Remus sounded from behind her, "She showed what it means to be a Gryffindor, but if you don't mind, I was hoping I could steal her for a birthday dance."

Hayden placed her empty wine glass on a tray carried by a passing house elf as he led her to the dance floor. A second later, Remus spun her onto the floor, where they danced with ease to the mellow music playing.

"Are you ok? It looked like you were panicking some," he asked softly.

"I am now. Thanks for the rescue, Remy, I needed it," Hayden exhaled as she leaned her head against his shoulder, where she could breathe in his intoxicating scent. The moment he spoke near the second years, the panic had stopped forming, and as soon as his arms had held her, the pain had passed, and she was still amazed by that effect that he had on her. Hayden lifted her head as the knot in her chest finally relaxed, and saw Professor Dumbledore leading Professor McGonagall onto the floor. As they started twirling across the dance floor, the students seemed to appreciate the idea as they all started joining in, even Sirius and Marlene were dancing by the end of the song. Within three songs, the professors were all leaving the partying to the experts and warning everyone to behave themselves.

###

Four hours later, it was 11 PM and the music was louder, bouncier, and more energetic than ever. The supplies of food and drinks was substantially diminished, most of the drinks going to the Marauders. Students were finally beginning to trickle to bed, so Hayden was finally enjoying some of the firewhiskey and Marlene and Alice were also indulging in the adult alcove beverages at last.

The Marauders and Marauderettes found themselves at the center of wandering eyes, swooning girls, and admiring young men. Marlene kept noticing girls glaring at her with the intent to murder her whenever Sirius bestowed any amount of affection on her. If Lily hadn't been on cloud nine during this, her first date with the boy who'd chased her for six years, she would have seen the same glares being directed at her. Peter found himself the subject of the attention of many girls that night, as the ringleaders were otherwise occupied. Remus, paler than ever with his scars extra prominent and his shabby, old dress robes that fit a few centimeters too short, was the only Marauder left unnoticed by the females of the house that night. Meanwhile, throngs of male suitors were eying the Marauderettes and attempting to flirt with them, despite the fact that two had dates, one had a boyfriend, and Hayden had eyes only for Remus.

When Hayden wandered over to refill her drink, she found Remus leaning against the wall, and with her tipsiness encouraging her to reach out to him more than usual, she veered to him.

"Remy," she began, setting her hand on his upper arm and eliciting an amused grin from him, "you should know that your present was perfect."

"Was it really?" He asked with a lift of his eyebrows, as he'd hoped it was one that she appreciated but had no idea how it could have been perfect.

"It was. It was my memory for DADA. I mean, it took me a while to realize it was in class, since the memory I thought of first had some…well, it was too complicated and tied up with some really depressing stuff. But that was the memory that gave me my patronus," sliding her hand down his arm until she was merely pinching the cuff of his robes' sleeve as she explained.

"Well, that was a lucky photo to choose then. And Hayden, _you_ should know that I meant what I said earlier," Remus stated, taking her hand from his sleeve and into his own for emphasis while she looked at their hands confusedly, "You impressed all of us in Hogsmeade. It takes an impressive amount of fortitude to bounce back from the cruciatus, even more so when the curse leaves physical injuries, but you did."

Hayden didn't understand how she wasn't panicking at the thought of that day, instead merely blushing at the compliment from Remus, but she wasn't going to question it. Instead, she met his eyes and squeezed his hand, hoping her appreciation for his words was being understood. They held this position, holding hands, eyes locked on each other's, standing a little too close with tension building, for only a few seconds when Sirius bounded over.

"Moony! You need a drink!" he exclaimed as he clapped the two of them on the shoulders, and they took off for the adult alcove as though nothing had passed between Hayden and Remus.

###

Three AM found the common room deserted other than the eight seventh year Gryffindors, all very intoxicated, sitting in a circle playing exploding snap in front of the fire. It had taken a couple of hours of Sirius prodding, suggesting, and attempting to trick her into a drink, but around one AM, Hayden had finally teamed up with Sirius to get Lily to take a swig of firewhiskey and the Head Girl had been drinking ever since.

"I wish life could just be like _this_ ," Alice stated abruptly, looking around at her mates, all full of smiles and laughs. Hayden looked around to see what Alice was seeing, and realized she was right. All eight of them were happy and had smiles that reached their eyes. Remus hadn't been pushing her away that night, and was still smiling even though he turned the next night.

He turned. That's right, he was a werewolf, Hayden mulled, chewing on the inside of her bottom lip. He was a werewolf, so his life could never be just like this all the time, not even close. He was destined to monthly torture for as long as he lived, and he had been impressed with her surviving the cruciatus once?

"You're right," Hayden slurred softly to the group, falling into her toddler impersonation that came with being drunk, "life is stupid. There's too much bad. We should have much liquor at parties every weekend!"

"Yes! I knew you were my favorite cousin for a reason!" Sirius declared back to her, also slightly slurred but not quite as much as Hayden. He _did_ have a lot more practice drinking after all, what with his home life being as lovely as it was.

"Cheers!" hiccuped Lily, before she burst into a fit of giggles at her hiccup. James chuckled softly at her input, who would have thought that _the_ Lily Evans would have gone on a date with him and ended up drunker than him and Sirius by the end of it? Then again, he _had_ quit drinking hard liquor when Lily had started drinking, so that he could make sure she didn't drink too much. He just couldn't help but try and protect her.

"I'm your favorite girl now though, right?" inquired Marlene, leaning on Sirius a fair bit more than she usually would.

"Of course!" he replied, with a wink to Hayden that Peter and Alice saw, causing them to break into laughter once more, which made Hayden laugh and then Lily, and within a minute they were all laughing the night away.


	10. Chapter 10 - Bambi and Faline

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the ideas! I am not writing or profit, only for pleasure!  
A/N: I LOVE feedback! Any and all is welcome! If you have ideas for me, critiques for me, whatever you have I'd love to hear!

xXxXx

Most of the Gryffindors trickled into the Great Hall for breakfast late that morning, but it still felt far too early to the seventh years being woken in the common room by the passing students. Alice was the first to wake, as she blearily attempted to ascertain what was on her stomach. Whatever it was had a lot of red hair.

"Lily?" she asked confusedly, trying to remember what had happened the previous night.

"No," Lily moaned as her pillow started trying to slide away from her. As it kept moving, she got more irritated and tried to pull it back to where it belonged, only to find that it wasn't a pillow after all. She struggled to find a comfortable position without Alice, as Lily was determined to not be awake yet and dislodged James's head from its resting place on her stomach.

"Knock it off, Padfoot. We'll talk in the morning," he grumbled at Lily's movement, beginning his own readjustment to go back to sleep. Sirius' snores suddenly ended as his head dropped hard to the floor off of James' abdomen.

"Oi! Prongs! No quidditch!" Sirius shouted, effectively waking the rest of them while he threw his arm over his eyes, leaving his other hand still tangled in Marlene's hair. Alice, who was now actually awake, started laughing at the entanglement of bodies lying next to her. Apparently, they had all fell asleep in Lincoln Log fashion. Everyone but Remus had found a stomach to use as a pillow, Peter resting on Hayden who was sleeping on Remus, who was resting on Sirius' thighs since Marlene was on his stomach. Now that Sirius had waken them, they were all dazedly adjusting themselves and looking around to try and figure out where they were. Sirius, however, was already snoring viciously again.

"So, what'd I miss last night?" chimed Alice as her laughter subsided, making everyone that wasn't snoring groan in pain.

"Loud," moaned Hayden, "too loud."

"Other than more alcohol, what'd I miss?" Alice repeated, keeping her voice hushed this time.

"I don't even know," Hayden grumped.

"Games. There were drinking games. Maybe other games? But definitely games." Marlene suggested, ending with a yawn.

"Oh yea, Exploding Snap," sighed Lily. When James tore his eyes from her, Merlin she was beautiful when she woke up, he met Remus' eyes for a second, before Remus dropped his eyes shamefully. So, apparently they wouldn't be filling in any of the gaps for the girls. If they didn't remember it though, it wouldn't change the look in Remus' eyes that James had caught afterward, and his refusal to inform the others what had happened meant that James was right about it after all.

"It made a pretty good drinking game after all, didn't it Marlene?" James prodded, as he started pretending to cut Sirius' hair. He gently waved his wand across the ends of Sirius' hair, creating a soft breeze that was just enough to make the hair move and conjuring some black hair snippets that dropped to Sirius' chest and shoulders.

"NOT THE HAIR!" Sirius shouted as he leapt to his feet, drawing his wand. Immediately, Marlene was at his side cooing him to calmness, while the others all dove to hide their ears from the inhumane noise.

"Well, now that you're awake, how does breakfast sound?" suggested James as his sniggers subsided.

###

"Lils, it's almost one. We should go meet old Dumby."

"Potter! You're head boy! You can't disrespect the headmaster like that!"

"Evans! You're my girlfriend! You _can_ call me James now anytime you feel like it! Or Jamesie or even Jamie. Or sexy. Or hot stuff. Or-"

"Come up with one more nickname for yourself and I'll be able to call you single again."

"Awww, Petals you don't mean that do you?" James nudged her as they walked out of the head dormitory.

"Petals?" she responded dubiously.

"Well, if Pads gets a special name for you I want one too. Do you hate it?"

"It's _weird_. Then again, so is the need for a nickname."

"You _don't_ want to call me something that _only_ you can call me? Nicknames are fun!"

"What would I call you? Bambi?"

" _No._ Bambi is a baby. Call me Great Prince of the Forest!"

"You know who Bambi's dad is?" Lily demanded, stopping dead in her tracks, "Tell me how you know, Bambi!"

"Wait! I said to call me Great Prince of the Forest!"

"And I said to tell me how you know his title."

"It was in that shop this summer. It looked cute. So, I replicated it so I could read it," he retorted with the quietest and meekest voice Lily had ever heard him use.

"Awww, _Bambi!"_ she squealed at him.

"Ugh, fine, _Faline_ , but never in front of Padfoot!"

"Oh my goodness, you really did read it!" she giggled. "And I promise he'll never hear it!"

"Ice mice," James told the gargoyle, causing it to start twisting and ascending with the staircase it concealed. They were already at Dumbledore's office and silence fell between the head students as they climbed the rising staircase to the headmaster's office. When they reached the top of the staircase, the door was already open.

"Good afternoon. I trust you both enjoyed your party last night?"

"Yes, sir," responded James, confusing Lily with his formality and level of respect once again. She shouldn't be so surprised any more, he'd been this way since seventh year had started, but it was still so weird!

"Good, good. Well, I expect you both are wondering why I invited you here today?"

"Maybe a little, Professor," Lily chimed in, wanting to make sure James didn't somehow become the defacto head student by her silence. They may be dating and doing well at sharing head duties, but now she was herself again, and they had to _keep_ sharing those duties.

"Well," the headmaster began, "allow me to begin by telling you both how well you are doing as head boy and girl. Despite having events to deal with in your personal lives, you've ensured prefects are doing their duties and there have been no student issues reported to the other professors. I'm quite proud of how you are handling your responsibilities."

"Thank you, sir," Lily said as she blushed with pride, a look that James happened to love on her.

Dumbledore nodded a kind smile at her before he continued, "Many have expressed concerns over your appointments, but I chose you because you are leaders. Younger students look up to you. That power should not be underestimated, especially not during a war. The side of light needs leaders to head the battle against Voldemort, and I've long seen you two as a pair of those leaders. You have both fought against the dark arts every time it's been an option, and you have both found yourself or your friends in these tussles several times. Before I continue I need to know, is this a position you wish to have?"

"Yes sir," James replied without missing a beat. He was sitting straight, like a soldier at attention. As Lily looked at him, she realized this was the only time she'd known him to truly be enraptured by what a professor was saying. He'd be interested and play close attention, but he'd never been enthralled like this. He'd never been waiting to hear what came next. As she looked at him, she realized that Professor Dumbledore was gazing at her. If James was going to be a warrior in this fight, there was no way in Hell she was sitting it out.

"I'm in too," she said, meeting the piercing blue eyes of her teacher, and then feeling him x-ray her soul.

"You're both sure?" he asked while maintaining eye contact with Lily. Yep, he x-rayed her soul and knew her response had been a knee-jerk reaction. "The decision to be a leader in a war is not a simple nor unimportant one. It is one that will put you in danger and alter your life. It is one that you should be truly sure of before proceeding."

James stated his affirmation quickly, and then turned to look at Lily. She felt the weight of both stares as she tried to think. If her previous reaction hadn't been acceptable to the headmaster, then she'd need to really come to a decision for him to accept it. So, she remembered finding out her parents were missing, they were dead, Hayden's screams as she was tortured. She remembered the pain she'd endured over the past four months. It wasn't okay. There was nothing alright about her being put through the pain and loss of her parents. There was nothing acceptable about Hayden being tortured on a day trip to Hogsmeade. She had to stand against it, there's no way she could let things like that keep happening and do nothing about it.

"Yes, sir," she replied with a nod, "I want to fight."

"Very well," the twinkle faded from Dumbledore's eyes as his voice became more solemn. "What I am about to ask of you should not leave this room or your dormitory. I ask that you report any students that you see with strong leanings toward the Dark Arts directly to me. If you see any suspicious behavior that worries you at all, come to me. But before you agree, you should know that there are some of his followers within these walls already, and they will see you speak to me and you will likely be targeted for it in time."

"Severus Snape, Regulus Black, Elizabeth Rosier, and Evan Rosier," Lily blurted out the first names that popped into her head as a confirmation that she'd do whatever Dumbledore asked of her.

James nodded as he looked over at his girlfriend and saw the fire sitting behind her green orbs. Suddenly he realized that the danger would be so much worse for her, and that there was a very real possibility that this war would be the death of her. As he contemplated this thought, he also realized that he'd never be able to keep her out of the fight when she had that much passion for the it. The only way he could ever protect her was by doing whatever she did and hoping that the spells would hit him first. His mind kept whirling around the possibilities of protecting her better as they were dismissed.

As they walked back to their dormitory to prepare for the Prefect's meeting they were holding in just an hour, Lily's thoughts were focused on the war as well. Instead of worrying about keeping herself or anyone she cared about safe though, she was worrying about being able to truly make a difference in the war. She'd need to join the Order of the Phoenix once she was out of school, of course, and she was hoping to become a healer at St. Mungo's. But, those were both future events, and the war was happening now. They were almost back to their suite when she finally said something out loud, shaking James from his reverie.

"We're leaders. Leaders in this school and leaders in this war. We need to lead our classmates into battle with them prepared for it," Lily stated firmly, looking at her co-head student for the first time since leaving the headmaster's office.

"What did you have in mind?" James responded guardedly.

"I'm not entirely sure, but students are going to be fighting. They deserve to know what is happening right now. They deserve true information from the outside world. They deserve to be prepared to defend themselves. They deserve to know what they're going to be walking into after school."

"Let me talk to Padfoot and the others and see if we can come up with something," he suggested. He was already trying to work out how to keep Lily from being on the front lines.

"I think we should talk to the prefects about participating. They're leaders too, and they deserve the chance," she stated as though she hadn't heard a word he had said.

"No, Lily," James chastised, finally making her stop in her tracks and look at him quizzically. His voice stayed quiet, but it was filled with rage and incredulity as he continued, "You heard what Dumbledore said, it's dangerous to even talk about the war in public. He told us to keep our conversations in _our_ dorm or _his_ office. You cannot just go to a group of students and blindly offer them in. That's fucking suicide, especially for you! Especially with a group that includes Slytherins! You want to do something, I get it, but you can't do it without a solid plan. And you shouldn't even do anything at all. You're a muggleborn, Lily. Everyone will be gunning for you already. This, no. It's too damn dangerous."

Without a word, Lily turned on her heel and stormed into their dormitory. By the time he followed her through the portrait hole, she was already slamming everything they needed onto her desk. She waited for the portrait to swing close before rounding on him.

"That's all fucking bullshit, and you know it! You just don't want me to fight because I'm your sodding girlfriend and you feel responsible for me! I'm a better dueler than you are and you know it! You can't keep me in a bloody, fucking cage and only let me out when you want!"

"It is NOT because you're my girlfriend! It's because you're a bloody muggleborn! You're the kind of person they're all gunning for! It's only because you're my girlfriend that I've decided to say anything to you! Look, I fucking love you and I can't imagine my life without you! Except ever since Dumbledore's office that's all I keep seeing! I keep seeing you dead! Because I didn't protect you! And I can't live with that Lils. I- It would fucking kill me."

Lily froze as she looked into James' tear-filled eyes. She was so confused. First, he was still trying to keep her from fighting and being overprotective. Bullshit. But, he loved her? He just told her he loved her. Holy harpies. Were they there yet? And that's why he was trying to protect her? Because he kept imagining her dead? Suddenly, James' lifeless body flashed in her mind's eye and her heart clawed at her chest, begging her to never let that happen. Tears were in her eyes as well now.

"I won't say anything at the meeting today. But we will talk about this more later?" she asked with the quietest voice she had used all day. He nodded in agreement and put the stack of papers and quills she had stacked on her desk into his school bag. James offered his hand to her, which she accepted, and they walked in silence to the prefects' meeting.


	11. Chapter 11 - Under the Moonlight

**I do not write this for profit. Everything I write is for fun and based off of the characters and recognizable plot from J.K. Rowling. I also hate writing these things.**

 **More importantly, I LOVE feedback! If you have any thoughts, ideas, responses, or critique, please post it! I love hearing it! (Though try to be nice about any constructive criticism :D )**

 **This chapter is dedicated to Buster'sFluffyButt for her constant encouragement and reviews and also for being so persistent in her request for a new update! I hope you like this one!**

It had been a long day. Thankfully James hadn't ended up with a bad hangover, unlike some of the others, but then he'd had the meeting with Dumby, the fight with Lily, and the prefects' meeting. And now he had to figure out what to tell her to sneak out all night. It hadn't been an issue the last two months, because she hadn't been paying attention. But she sure was now. Lily knew the marauders were animagi and Remus was a werewolf, but she didn't know that the marauders spent every full moon with the werewolf. Even Hayden only ever guessed at that. Lily just thought they became animals for the fun of it, and to show off to everyone else. Or that they used their transformations to get places to pull off their pranks, she didn't know about the invisibility cloak after all.

The invisibility cloak. Lily wasn't really talking to him this evening anyway, so he could just turn in early and then use the cloak to sneak out while she was studying. Thank Godric for the cloak!

At eight, Lily was still in their common area studying, and James finally realized the flaw in his plan. To leave their dorm, he'd need to go through the portrait hole. With Lily sitting in the common area studying, she'd see the portrait open and close with no one opening it and she'd get curious.

"Pads, hey Pads! You there?" he spoke into his mirror, the brother of which belonged to Sirius. "Padfoot? Come on, man!"

"Prongs? What do you need?" Sirius finally appeared in the mirror James was speaking into.

"Well, Lily is still in our common area, not talking to me."

"Come now, Prongsie. What did you do?" Sirius mocked him lightly.

"That's not important. What is important is I need you to come over so there's a reason for the portrait hole to open."

"Ahhh, you're sneaking out with the invisibility cloak for our adventures. Got it. I'll be over in a minute. And then you can tell me how you made the flower angry this time," Sirius concluded with a wink before the mirror became just a mirror again. Damn it. He didn't want to think about the fight anymore tonight, let alone talk about it. Fucking Merlin. He should have seen it coming. It's not like he had another choice, but he at least could have chosen his words more carefully. Telling Pads that Lily wasn't speaking to him was literally asking him to involve himself.

James was attempting to figure out what he'd say to Sirius when he heard the marauder in question enter the common area.

"SUNFLOWER!" Sirius barked from the other side of the door. James trudged over to look down at the two most important people in his life from his balcony. Something to make him feel a little better about himself: Lily's sour mood wasn't reserved for him alone.

"Damn it Sirius! Can't you ever say anything at a normal volume? Fuck. Now I need to start my assignment over!" she screamed while she started waving her wand in an attempt to siphon the ink off her parchment and salvage her essay. It was her History of Magic essay that she'd been working on for the past week. Any other class and Sirius would have stood a chance, but Lily was only in that one because she thought she ought to be, not because she enjoyed it. James braced himself for the onslaught of swearing and screeching sure to be launched at Sirius, but it never came. Instead, she just stopped everything and looked at him before saying, "Just, go, Sirius. Just go to your fucking boy toy and let me work."

Sirius all but ran as silently as he could up to where James was standing. Only when they were in James' room with the door shut did he finally hiss, "Merlin's fucking beard, Prongs! What did you do?!"

There was definitely no avoiding this now. So James laid out the entire day, starting with meeting Dumbledore and what he had requested of them, covering their fight, and ending with the prefects' meeting where each and every little thing he had done had upset Lily in some way.

"So you were actually stupid enough to try and protect Evans by telling her not to fight?" Sirius asked dubiously. James gave a sober nod in response, before Sirius continued, "Prongs, mate, you're a sodding moron."

"I know," James moaned, "I just couldn't help it. I kept seeing her lying dead, and Pads, that'd kill me."

"I know mate. Grab the cloak. I've dropped off the book," Sirius set the book he'd been carrying, down on James' bedside table, while James draped his family heirloom over his head. Sirius raised his voice as he opened the door, "Sweet dreams, Prongsie-poo!"

"Leaving already, Sirius?" Lily asked in a slightly calmer tone.

"Yes, dear Sunflower. The Prongs desires to study tonight, and is strangely determined that I should leave him alone. So, I'm off to keep Wormtail company, where at least my charm and wit will be appreciated," he explained with a smirk and a wink. James barely kept himself from snorting with laughter or slugging his best friend.

"Uh huh. Well, have fun with that. Night," she replied with slight sarcasm, before going back to her essay. Sirius held the portrait open while he told her good night, and James made it out without a problem. Once the portrait swung closed, James lifted his cloak for Sirius to duck under: students weren't allowed on the grounds so late after all. As they snuck past Filch's office, they paused to slip a dungbomb under the door.

They finally made their way through the huge oak doors and onto the grounds. James took in a breath of cool, crisp, fresh air as a mangy, black dog bounded out from under his cloak. James trotted behind his favorite mongrel as he took in the cloudless sky. The sun was already down, but the moon was still on the horizon. It was going to be a good full moon, James could feel it. Padfoot barked as they neared the Whomping Willow; a queue for a rat to sprint through the grass to the base of the tree and place a paw on a knot. The willow's branches froze where they had been swaying before the knot was touched. Padfoot ran under the branches and James followed down the tunnel hidden in the tree's roots. He slid to the bottom of the tunnel with a soft thump, and the rat scurried down behind him before running into his still invisible back.

"Wormtail," he groaned as he took his cloak off gracefully, "how many times do we have to go through this?" James reached behind him and picked up the rat. He was placing it on his shoulder when the dog leapt back to him and licked his entire face. "Ugh! Padfoot! Knock it off!" James moaned as he scratched his best friend behind the ears. Being animagi definitely made their relationships a little bit weird. James tucked his ancient cloak under some stairs, so when they came through later none of the animals would do anything to ruin it and he followed the dog up the stairs.

When he reached the door to a bedroom, James finally proceeded with some caution. He opened the door slowly, and the rat ran down his arm before jumping to the floor and following Padfoot into the room. James peeked around the door, relaxing slightly when he saw Moony. As he stepped into the room, his friend's focus snapped onto him.

James froze. His eyes met the eyes of his favorite wolf. A guttural growl sounded from Remus' throat as his veins began to bulge. Shit. He and Pads had made it down to the shack just in time for Moony to turn. A second growling started, giving both men a way to break eye contact without admitting submission to each other. James backed away slowly while Moony kept his focus on the dog, before shutting the door and collapsing against it.

That was too close. During and immediately after his transition was when Remus was the most dangerous, and it had been years since any of them had come so close to being human in his presence during his transition. The last time, Wormtail had nearly lost a limb and an eye. Apparently defending a human when you had a pair of antlers was difficult. And now he was stuck here, as human, just listening to the tormented growls and whines coming from the room behind him. He couldn't help distract Moony as a human without someone getting injured, and he couldn't transform at the same time without making it worse. Something about the animagus transformation triggered extra aches and pains for Moony, so they'd learned to avoid transforming at the same time.

But just sitting here was tortuous for James. His only desire on these nights was to help ease his friend's pain; that's how he'd developed the plan for them to become animagi in the first place. Convincing Wormtail that they could pull it off had been nearly impossible, though keeping it from Moony had been even harder. It was the best thing they'd ever done though, followed closely by creating the map. And most importantly, it helped Moony on these nights, and it made the full moon the highlight of each month, except for the month Padfoot decided they should have a tea party with the acromantula. That had gone really badly, and had resulted in the new rule that the now "Forbidden" Forest was strictly off-limits to all students, which was ridiculous, really. It was one little spider stampede!

A howl sounded from behind him, a sign that he could finally shift into proud stag. He opened the door before he slipped into his second skin.

Antlers pulled the door open, and his snout poked into the room, sniffing the atmosphere curiously. As an animal, scent could tell him so much more than as a human. There was pain and hurt and, strangely, anger. He let out a high pitched, questioning whine at his friends, resulting in Padfoot bouncing and barking around him. Moronic mutt.

The wolf howled again. Then it charged out the door. His herd followed. As the largest in the pack, he always took the rear. Protect them from behind. Stairs were difficult with hooves, but he managed, as always. The tunnel gave him problems again, though. His antlers had grown since their last outing. A ghostly moan escaped him this time, pleading for his pack to help him. Padfoot let the wolf through then dug his way down to the stag. The wolf dug near him and the rat scurried through the edges of the tunnel, weakening the walls for the canines to have an easier dig through. It was done in minutes and their pack was free.

Dog and wolf harmonized to the moon, while he groaned ferociously with them, attempting to sing with them. Then, they ran. They sprinted over the grounds. They raced through trees. They leapt over fallen logs and pranced over lifted roots. Prongs took the lead when they began nearing the acromantula nest. They weren't welcome in that corner of the forest anymore. They slowed to play with the unicorn foals while the parents watched from a stream. The gold babies neighed and pranced, swishing their tails at the canines, sniffing his snout curiously, and nuzzling the small critter that jumped from back to back among them.

It was time to move again. He moaned at the rat, and they danced through the forest again. They darted around trees, playing tag with each other. Tagging Wormtail was difficult, and he was stuck as 'it' for longer than the others when he was tagged. The rat climbed trees and branches and jumped desperately for any nearby animal. The canines grew impatient and began to wrestle, leaving them vulnerable to the watchful rat. Moony yipped in surprise as Wormtail landed on him, effectively tagging him before leaping off and disappearing in the grass. Prongs released a rough bark at the others as he heard hooves approaching. Padfoot whined at the admonishment while Moony pinned his ears back, listening to decide predator or prey. It was a heard of hooves. The centaurs. Prongs stepped a hoof forward and bowed his head. Magical creatures did best in the forest when they respected the centaurs. Wizards especially. His pack followed his lead as the centaurs charged by. A chestnut centaur slowed to a stop nearby.

"Be wary," Milano warned cryptically, "Danger nears you four. Do not seek trouble." Favorite centaur or not, he certainly didn't like their hijinks. Prongs nodded slowly, and Milano left to join his herd. They bowed until the herd was past. Padfoot returned to bouncing through the forest. Prongs needed speed though, so he ran. His pack followed, trying to keep pace with him. He bounded deeper and deeper into the forest, until he could no longer hear the rat's bustling. He paused for a moment, taking in his surroundings. This was a new corner.

There was a clearing here, with a cliff face along one edge. It had a tiny stream running down it making a small waterfall. Moss covered much of the trees facing the cliff. There were rounded, pillow-like cobbles throughout the small meadow, making this seem nice for humans as well as deer. He took a deep breath, there were bird and owl nests nearby. A pair of eagles nested not too far away as well. Thestrals lived near, but only ventured here occasionally. In a split second, he decided this would be his clearing. He marked a handful of trees quickly before running back to his pack.

They were forced to make sharp turns to follow him through the forest as he sped by. He was slower this time, just quick enough that he kept the lead. When they approached the stream where Hagrid liked to feed thestrals, they began to bound and play once more. They all felt the rising of the sun. Slowly and joyously, they made their way back to the Whomping Willow. The rat paused the otherwise swaying branches once again, and waited for the three large animals to make their way down. He scurried after his large friends until all four were back in the bedroom they'd found the werewolf in.

Prongs tucked his legs in, curled with his head resting on the floor. His large deer eyes watched his furry friend as he began his painful transformation back to human. Padfoot, ever the idiotic softie, nuzzled as close to him as the werewolf would allow. And Wormtail sat idly on the stag's head. The presence of all three animals made his transformation quicker than before, thankfully. When it was complete, James shook off his fur, returning to his human state. Moony was shaky, as was usual the morning after, with larger and darker circles under his eyes than usual. James tucked himself under one of Remus' arms and pulled him to his feet.

"Have a nice night, Moony?" he asked with a wink. His friend always had pain with his furry, little problem, but it was rare that he didn't have fun, at least since full moons became a monthly marauder escapade. Moony nodded in response. It was early still, if they hurried everyone would be able to get some sleep before needing to wake for classes. James slipped under his cloak as soon as he reached it, and helped Moony out of the tunnel after Wormtail held down the knot. Wormy was instrumental in these adventures, whether or not he knew it. Upon exiting the tree's roots, Padfoot slipped under the cloak and became human once more. Together, they helped Moony to the Hospital Wing, where they left him to return to the 7th floor. He dropped Pads off at the Fat Lady's portrait before retreating to his own dormitory. He wouldn't have bothered if it weren't for Lily's enjoyment of walking to breakfast with him.

When he arrived at his dorm though, it was clear he wouldn't be sleeping. Lily was watching the portrait hole from the sofa. She'd just seen the portrait open and close itself.

"James? That had better be you," she stated firmly with pursed lips and a raised eyebrow. Shit. He removed his family cloak with a flourish of his wrist and collapsed on the nearest chair. He was exhausted, and it showed. Silence settled between them and he began to drift into an uneasy sleep, before Lily jumped to her feet and demanded, "Where the hell were you?"

"That's…well, it's hard to explain."

"It's a full moon! I woke from a nightmare and you weren't there! There's a werewolf on the grounds and you weren't in your bed! Do you-," she tried to calm herself with a deep breath and failed miserably. "Do you have any idea how frightened I was?! I saw you dead!"

Shit. He'd expected her to stay mad at him all night. He hadn't thought about her nightmares, it'd been a week or so since her last one after all. If it had occurred to him as a possibility, he would have made up an actual alibi. Now…damn it. Now the reasoning for their animagi abilities would have to come out. Damn it all.

"Lils," he started quietly, startling her for his meek response to her yelling. He took her hand and pulled her near him as he raised himself to his feet slowly. "I'm sorry I scared you. I was with the marauders."

He was hoping if he said eased into it, his whereabouts would enrage her less. The raise of her eyebrow seemed to indicate otherwise, unfortunately. "James Potter. Explain which marauders you were with. Now."

Yep. That was the tell me or die voice. She was seriously angry. Fuck.

"Well, the three of us spend full moons with Moony. It's why we became animagi. It helps him Lils."

Silence. Shit. That meant a gigantic explosion was- yep. There it was.

"You're kidding me, right?! You three morons run around with a werewolf?! Every month?! Because you're animals?!" Lily was in shock, as was clearly evidenced by her constant shift of expression. One moment her mouth was open and she was ready to scream, the next it was only barely ajar and her eyes narrowed with incredulity. She pinched her nose between her eyes while scrunching them shut and taking a deep breath. "Does that mean," Lily asked quietly in between deep breaths, "that Remus is loose on the grounds of Hogwarts, every month?"

James fought to keep eye contact with the brewing twister housed within his favorite green orbs as he replied, "Yes. But," he rushed on, forcing her to listen, "I'm a stag and Pads is a dog and he just plays with us and we can control and guide him when we need to!"

"So, not only do you encourage a werewolf to roam freely when there are children living just inside the castle, you actually think you can control him?! What kind of stupid are you?! What would happen if he hurt someone? Did you ever consider what that would do to him?! No! Because you're too arrogant to admit that things do go wrong! Just like when Black thought it was a good idea to send Sev in after him! How do you know he won't turn one of you?!" Lily was scream-ranting, her most dangerous form of communication. Any attempt to respond or explain would be seen as an attempt to interrupt her and would only enrage her further, but standing and taking it was nearly impossible. She knew that he'd had nothing to do with Snape nearly finding Moony. She also knew that James' number one thought, other than her, was how things would affect Moony.

"How do you know?!" Lily repeated, tears leaking from her tumultuous eyes, like the first raindrops in a storm. "You get hurt all the time, right?! He gave you that gash, didn't he?" she nodded at the cut in his arm. This moon had been a good one with minimal injuries, but they always came back with a few scrapes. He nodded his affirmation but remained silent. She stepped close to him and inspected his arm, before she pointed at it with her wand. They watched his skin pull and stretch over the cut, healing seamlessly before she spoke again.

"Any others?" James nodded once more and removed his shirt to show her the gouge on his side. This one was from a unicorn, the foals had sharp little horns. She waved her wand this time, and the skin healed itself in a similar fashion. Then, without a word, she turned and retreated to her bedroom, leaving James standing there, baffled. She healed his wounds after yelling at him, and then went back to bed? She attacked and then retreated, which was not a move he'd learn to expect from Lily Evans. He collapsed on the sofa, staring at her bedroom door and contemplating what he should be expecting from her in the morning, until he fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12 - Athena's Warriors

**All characters and recognizable themes belong to J.K. Rowling. I do not write for profit.**

 **Thank you for reading along guys! I've been working a LOT and my mom just had a knee replacement, so writing hasn't been able to be as high of a priority as I want it to, but I am working on finding that happy balance!**

 **This chapter goes out to my lovely Beta, without whom this would never actually get updated ever. She is amazing and keeps me going! Thanks Clearwater508!**

* * *

Lily woke with her alarm two and a half hours later, overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts. She spent a few minutes trying to sort through them: anger at James for trying to protect her, anger at James for running around with a werewolf once a month, fear from James running around with a werewolf, concern for Remus, fear from her returning nightmare, anger at Mousey and Dunderhead for running with a werewolf-shit. They'd have been hurt too. Imbecilic shitheads!

Lily jumped to her feet and dressed as quickly as she could. She left her room and jumped when she saw James asleep on the sofa there. Thankfully, she'd packed her school bag the night before, so she simply slipped out of their shared dorm as silently as she could manage, pausing only to tuck the silver cloak James had left on the floor into her bag.

After she arrived in the marauders' dorm room, she cast a quick muffliato charm on the room before waking the morons in the room. With a flick of her wand, the room filled with the sound of an air horn, and Peter leapt from his bed while Sirius continued snoring. Peter was frantically turning in circles, trying to find the source of the noise without opening his eyes, while he yelped for the other marauders to help. Somehow, one of his cries for Padfoot startled Sirius awake.

"Oi, for Merlin's sake shut that shit up!" he roared at the room as he pulled a pillow over his head. Lily obliged with a second flick of her wrist, but illuminated the room instead and marched over to the grouch.

She yanked the blankets off of him, and thanked Godric that he had a pair of boxers on, as she yelled at him, "Sirius Black! Get your sorry arse out of bed and let me look at you!" Both marauders froze at the sound of her voice, Peter finally seemed to open his eyes and blinked wildly at her while Sirius just kept still. This surprising them awake thing was actually a lot of fun, but keeping giggles or a smile from escaping was superbly difficult.

"Evans?" Sirius asked with a muffled voice from beneath his pillow. Lily shook her head at his bizarre behavior and started examining Peter. He had a few bruises, but that seemed to be about the extent of his injuries, other than a small cut on his cheek. Lily set about fixing him as soon as she'd had her once over, and he was healed in a minute.

"Yes, mutt. It's Evans," Lily snarled as she approached Sirius. Waking them may have been amusing, but it didn't take away her anger at the moronic marauders for traipsing around with a werewolf every month. She began inspecting Sirius' body, assessing his considerable damage and trying to ignore the sculpted muscles when he finally took the pillow off his head.

"Sunflower," he began seductively, "if you're bored of James already, you could have just said so." He thrusted his hips in the air a couple of times before shooting her a wink. She eyed his wounds and picked a shallow one on his ribcage to whack before responding.

"James is in the metaphorical doghouse," she stated as he curled into a defensive ball in response to her hit. Lily rolled him to his back once more and pushed his shoulders down onto the bed so she could begin her wand work before she continued speaking. "When he got in at 4 am this morning, he told me where he'd been. And who all was with him." She paused and lifted her eyes from his mending skin to meet his silver eyes. After a moment, she returned to helping his skin knit itself together. "You are all idiots. What the hell is wrong with you?" Sirius looked down at his healing chest before summoning a response.

"He's our brother and this is what we can do to help. This is the only thing we can do. Are we supposed to do nothing and let him suffer alone?" He stated it calmly and almost like he was defeated, and Peter nodded furiously behind him. Lily had spent time with deep Sirius before, but never really on another's behalf like this. Dang it all. That meant she'd need to find a way to accept it and not be mad at them. Crap. She'd figure that out later. She'd have to, but she needed something else to focus on right now. Lily checked her work and found only old scars where she'd been working. She'd check on those later she supposed.

"Roll over, let me see your back," she instructed Sirius as she pondered. His back only had one fresh scratch, so she healed it quickly. "Alright, put a shirt and some pants on so we can talk." Lily turned toward the door, not wanting to give him the idea she could be watching him. James had told her he would talk to the others about this, but she needed to have something to focus on right now. Plus, this way James couldn't find a way to baby her with it.

Lily began explaining what their meeting with Dumbledore had consisted of while the boys dressed. Sirius, unbeknownst to her, already knew what had happened but feigned ignorance so well even Peter believed him.

"So- so Professor Dumbledore thinks there could be death eaters in the Slytherins? Students watching and reporting to You-Know-Who?" Peter clarified, his eyes wide.

"Possibly, but I don't think he suspects that anyone is an actual death eater yet, just that they could be reporting to death eaters. Either way though, we need to do something," Lily responded, ending with determination. The boys were both dressed, although Sirius still needed to button his shirt, so when his interest was piqued by this determined Lily, along with the fight James had told him about, Sirius finally spoke up.

"You can turn around now. What do you have in mind?"

"I've been thinking about it, and I think we should start a dueling club," she began pensively as she turned towards them. "We need to do more than that, but I'm not totally sure yet. I just know that it's going to be us students who will be out there fighting the war, and we need to be prepared and we need to know what we're walking into after school."

"Well, I'm in for whatever. What do you think Wormy?" Sirius asked casually as he pulled his tie around his collar and started on his bottom button. As much as she hated to admit it, something about his nonchalance was irritatingly sexy. How'd he always manage to do that?

"Sure, sounds like a good idea," he shrugged. Peter was always so simple in his thoughts. Not in a bad way or anything, he just never overcomplicated things. It was actually refreshing to Lily, seeing as she always seemed to over think things, though not as much as Hayden did. Speaking of Hayden… Lily checked the clock, shocking herself to find that it was already 8:15. Perfect timing, but only if she left here now.

"Glad you're on board! See you at breakfast!" And with that, Lily dashed out of their dorm, casting a simple finite spell as she went. She sped up when she ran into a couple of younger boys; the last thing Lily needed was for the school to start gossiping about who she spent the night with. Though it was probably too late for that she thought as she passed a few more boys heading to breakfast. Lily made it to the common room and then sprinted up the girls' staircase, pulling Alice back into her dorm as she burst into it. Hayden paused in her bra and skirt to look at their arrival while Marls simply continued applying her make up with a quick glance at the door.

"Did you finally sleep with James?" Hayden asked dryly, sure that wasn't the source of Lily's early morning energy but still saying the first thing that popped into her mind.

"We're not talking about him right now," Lily bristled, hoping to simply focus on why she came here. She cast a silent muffliato once more before she started on what she came to say. "Professor Dumbledore believes there's a full blown war coming, and I agree. He thinks that watching for suspicious behavior and reporting it to him will help, so we need to keep our eyes open and if you see anything tell me so I can talk to him. But the headmaster also told us that he made us head students because he thinks we're leaders that the students look up to and we can help lead the war. Hayden, wait," she steamrolled, stopping her best friend's interruption before it even started. "I want to be a part of that war, but I think we all need to be prepared before we leave school. I think we need to be able to collect information and actually know what's happening out there, but I also think we should start a dueling club. What do you think?"

"How are we going to collect information? We're in school and the newspapers don't even fully know what's going on," Alice questioned dubiously. Her logic always had a way of making Lily feel inept, since she didn't usually have answers figured out when she made these hare-brained suggestions.

"Well, that's why I'm bringing this to you guys. I don't know yet, but I know that if I'm supposed to lead some bloody war, I'm damn well going to make sure my army is ready for it."

"What if we ask other students and send letters home? I'm sure a lot of people know at least little things about the war, but no one wants to admit it's happening, right? So no one is saying more about it than the need to, so no one out there is comparing notes. But if students collected information and then compared notes, we'd be a step ahead, right?" Hayden chimed in, as she pulled a blouse down over her head. The other three looked to Alice to see what she thought, knowing her puzzle-loving mind was the best suited to this.

"It's a start. But it won't be enough to do what Lily wants to do. And how would we compare notes?"

"Bulletin boards work well, don't they?" Marls finally intruded. Planning things wasn't her forte, unless it was a party. Carrying out a well-crafted plan was where she came into play, most of the time.

"But what about deatheaters? Or Slytherin's aiming for that? We can't have them knowing what we're learning, right? And if it were a bulletin board we'd need school approval and Professor Dumbledore would never be okay with this," Lily responded quickly.

"Let's think about this," Hayden pondered. "We don't need to make all the decisions at once, and I think Marls is onto something with the bulletin board idea, but Lils is right about us needing to keep it secret. We can figure that out later, let's get started on the dueling club. We all want to go ahead with that, don't we?"

The other two girls nodded their agreement, both to thinking the ideas through more and to the dueling club.

"Great. Then our first step is to instate student leaders for the club-" Lily began explaining the process until Marls interrupted her.

"You and Cap, Dumbledore chose you already, right?" Hayden and Alice nodded enthusiastically in response to Lily and James being student leaders, forcing Lily to accept it without even giving her a chance to fight it. Fine. She was already a leader anyway, like Marls said.

"Okay," Lily dug in her bag for a quill and parchment, writing down the pertinent facts as they started going through them. "Then we need a faculty advisor."

"Minnie McGee!" Hayden suggested quickly. Crap, going to Professor McGonagall would make it far more difficult to keep any other workings that they did a secret, but she was the most logical choice for a bunch of Gryffindors, and the boys would love it. Lily looked to Alice and Marls for approval, which they both gave immediately.

"Alright then. Professor McGonagall," Lily drew out her name as she wrote it down. "And we want it open to all houses. Who are we going to have teach us? I mean, we could have Professor McGonagall come in sometimes and maybe Professor Flitwick at others, he's a dueling champion after all. And of course we should ask Professor Merrythought to help us as well. But asking the professors to give up their time to us for a club all the time seems like a lot."

"With that rotation it doesn't sound too bad, but I could ask Frank," Alice suggested softly. "I mean, he's nearly complete with his initial auror training. Then he has shadowing for six months starting at the new year."

"Frank Longbottom," Lily wrote his name down before looking to the others for approval. "I rather like that idea. We'd have an auror, Defense professor, Charms professor, and Transfiguration professor all helping us. We'll be ace duelers in no time!"

Lily's enthusiasm was contagious, but just then a growl sounded from Marlene's stomach. They all looked at the clock quickly to see they needed to leave immediately if they wanted to make it to breakfast before class. Lily rolled her parchment and cast a finite as the other girls grabbed their bags.

"I'll talk to Professor McGonagall after Transfiguration and we should be all set!" she proclaimed excitedly as they left the dorm room.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"My dearest Minerva!" Sirius shouted as he entered the Transfiguration classroom after lunch. Damn it all, Lily knew they should have known better than to tell Sirius about using Professor McGonagall as their advisor during lunch. He was going to ruin it all by annoying her so much.

"Mister Black," the professor responded evenly. Apparently she was giving up on admonishing him for using some form of her first name, which was about time considering it hadn't worked for the past six years.

"Oh Minnie. I doth ask of you a grand favor!" he paused expectantly, waiting for her to respond. The professor stood resolutely with an eyebrow cocked expectantly. "The sadly unskilled of our castle must have a chance to learn! I doth ask that you helpeth train them! To duel!"

Professor McGonagall still stood resolute, staring at him with her eyebrow arched higher than before. Shit. Sirius probably just ruined it for them. Lily darted to stand next to him so she could explain their idea a bit more coherently than that dunderhead had.

"What he means to say, Professor, is that we want to start a dueling club, and we'd like you to be our faculty advisor," Lily explained neatly, while Hayden caught up to her.

"Yea, just a club where we can practice dueling and learn better techniques that's open to everyone," Hayden offered quickly.

"And we're hoping to have you, Professor Merrythought, Professor Flitwick, and Frank Longbottom all come in and help us from time to time, so it wouldn't all be on you. You'd just be our official advisor," Lily finished. Professor McGonagall's eyebrow dropped to her regular arch, leaving her thoughts more hidden. She pursed her lips thoughtfully before finally responding.

"I'll consider it. Now take your seats." The girls nodded gratefully and dragged Sirius back to his usual desk before he could say anything to change her mind. The rest of the class seemed to take forever, even with them changing each other's face shapes. Lily wasn't working with James this time, because he was still mad at her for telling everyone about her dueling club idea before talking to him about it, so she was working with Hayden. It was nice, but Hayden was so focused on the difficult transfiguration that she didn't have any chatter to share and distract her with. As soon as class was dismissed, Hayden dragged Sirius away so Lily could talk to Professor McGonagall alone.

"Professor," she began with a smile, "I'm sorry about Black. I had intended to speak to you myself after class about the dueling club, seeing as I'm creating the club and planning on being the leader of it, along with James. I just asked everyone if they'd be interested and Black got overexcited, you know how he is."

The strict professor seemed to relax at Lily's words, showing her clear discomfort at the idea of Sirius being in charge. Lily was sure she almost saw a smile when Professor McGonagall began speaking, "Very well, Miss Evans. In that event, I would be happy to be the faculty advisor for your dueling club. But I would like to know what inspired you to form this little club."

"I'm going to face death eaters again, I know I am. I want to be ready next time. And everyone deserves that chance, to be ready, if they want it."

Professor McGonagall seemed to assess Lily's fierce and determined expression for a moment before giving her a curt nod and going back to her desk, collecting their homework parchments in a clear dismissal. Lily thanked her before leaving the classroom. She was victorious. They were doing something to prepare for the war ahead. Lily was filled with pride and glee as she walked to her dorm room. This was good. They were making progress. Now she had to figure out the rest of her plan: a way to share news with only those students interested in fighting the death eaters in this war. Lily was playing around with that thought as she walked into her dorm, where she was ambushed by the other marauders and marauderettes.

"Lils! Remus and Hayden figured it out!" Marlene exclaimed before Lily had even set her bag down. She put it next to her desk before responding.

"Figured what out?" Lily looked around the room fully at last. James was pointedly avoiding looking at her, so clearly she wasn't forgiven yet, though Lily wasn't even sure if he was forgiven yet. He kept a major secret from her _and_ wanted her to stay hidden and protected. He wanted her to go against her nature, and that would never happen. How could he think it would? Lily's inner monologue was cut short by Hayden's excited explanation.

"A Fidelius charm! On a hidden passage, that way everyone thinks the castle just got rid of it if they already know about it, and we can control who knows about it and who can see it!" Hayden's eyes were bright with excitement and her smile was contagious. Everything was coming together.

"Now we just need a name for the group," Alice chimed in energetically. Everything was coming together and everyone, other than James, seemed excited. At the thought of a name, Lily remembered the Greek mythology she read growing up, all the PG-rated versions until recently, and thought of her favorite goddess, the goddess of war: Athena.

"Hmmm… Athena's Warriors?" she suggested pensively. It fit, if they were going to be fighting in a war and they were strategizing before entering the fight, the way Athena would.

"What does that mean?" squeaked Peter, while Sirius scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. Remus was the one to speak up and explain.

"Athena is a mythological Goddess of ancient Greece. She represented reason, wisdom, and purity, especially in war. She was an incredible warrior, but only in defense of her home against foreign enemies," he defined to the group, none of whom still took Muggle Studies with him, Lily, James, and Hayden, before meeting Lily's eyes and continuing with a smile and definite approval. "Your choice of name is quite allegorical and fitting."

As Lily looked at all of her friends, she saw nods and grins and smiles, sure signs of agreement. Except for James, who was looking down still. She was definitely still mad at him too, but she'd been counting on his excitement, and her face fell slightly.

"Oy! Prongsie! Do you think the Marauders can be warriors for some ancient goddess?" Sirius crowed with grandeur and an elbow to his best mate's ribs. James finally looked up, and Lily thought she saw a hint of a fierce pride and combativeness lurking behind his emotion-shielded eyes.

"You know boys, it's about time we stepped up to something greater," he declared, his excitement finally peeking through his emotionless mask for everyone to see. "Congratulations Marauders and Marauderettes, on being the original members of Athena's Warriors."


	13. Chapter 13 - Charms and Apologies

**I own none of the recognizable characters or themes. They all belong to the loveliest J.K. Rowling. I write this for fun, not profit, and I hope others find enjoyment in my writing :)**

 **With that out of the way, PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGY! I'm so sorry it's been so long! I've been writing oneshots, playing with fb groups and competitions, and life's gone a bit crazy! But you have been on my mind! As has this chapter! So now that it's here, I hope you like it! Also, I'm planning on writing my butt off in June so hopefully that'll make up for it some! :D**

* * *

Saturday morning, Hayden woke up with dread in the pit of her stomach. It was this month's Hogsmeade weekend. Everyone else wanted to go, and she could clearly handle being back there since she'd been to gather supplies for the birthday bash, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. The only thing that brought her much comfort was that the boys were planning on spending the whole day with them, so there'd be nine Gryffindors (Frank was visiting again, of course) in the pack for the entire time. Unfortunately, James and Lily still weren't speaking unless it was necessary, so there was always an awkward tension around them that everyone had to deal with. Even worse, that tended to mean that Remus was hovering around James to keep him from feeling alone.

 _At least this explains why Remus feels_ _ **so**_ _damn guilty about having friends,_ Hayden thought to herself while she showered and got ready for Hogsmeade. _His friends actually risk their lives for him every month, I mean, I'd feel guilty too. Hell, I_ _ **do**_ _feel guilty, and that was just because I yelled at my cousin. I didn't even go into it knowing that it meant risking all our lives and I was the only one actually injured._

Images flashed through her mind: Bellatrix cackling. Lily frozen. Starred darkness with accompanying pain. Sirius darting towards Bella. Remus surrounding her. Blackness. _Shit,_ she thought as bile made its way up her throat. _At least I didn't black out this time._ Hayden wiped her mouth and stood to the side to let the running water clean the mess.

 _And Lily's so preoccupied with being pissed at James for wanting to do what any decent boyfriend_ _ **should**_ _want to do that she won't be much of a calming influence for me. Moron. And Remus will be amusing James. Stormy will be…_ _ **disturbing**_ _with Marls. Shit._

 _Maybe I should just stay here today._ Hayden had moved on to starting her makeup, now that she was out of the shower and dressed in her muggle clothes: her favorite jeans and a burgundy knit sweater. _I mean, I could start working on figuring out the Fidelius charm technique and how to use it on a corridor. Hell, maybe I could even do some transfiguration homework, or try to._

"Hayden, you coming?" Marls called on her way to the stairs. They were the last two in the room, everyone else was excited for their day away and already at breakfast.

"Go on without me. I'll be down in a few." She watched Marlene leave before returning to the mirror. Hayden took a moment to look at herself, to really look at herself for the first time since before she was tortured. There was still something scared in her eyes, something she didn't remember seeing before. _I can do this. I can go to Hogsmeade. Nothing will happen to me if I go. Everyone will be with me, to protect me if I need it. I can do this._ She finished her makeup and made her way to the Great Hall.

The others were chattering about Hogsmeade plans when Hayden reached her seat. Stormy was blathering on about Dervish and Banges and their new line of exploding tricks, while Marlene was gushing about the new quill she was planning on getting. She tried to join in the excitement, but Hayden felt outside of it all. She wanted to go and have fun with her friends, she didn't want to be afraid, but every time she thought about walking down those roads, Bella's face flashed in her mind. She couldn't go. There was no way. She couldn't even eat.

"You know, I think I may spend some time at the library today," Hayden murmured, hoping a soft volume might soften the blow she'd get from everyone finding out she wasn't going. Unfortunately, no one seemed to hear her, which wouldn't work. Hayden didn't want to tell everyone she wasn't going, but if she didn't tell them, she'd end up being dragged to Hogsmeade with them.

Unbeknownst to Hayden, Remus heard her, though he didn't respond outwardly. He had a feeling she wasn't going to go today, but he'd been hoping she would. He couldn't blame her, after all he had only been present at the end of everything and even he didn't want to go back. He wasn't afraid, of course not, but he didn't want to face it either. At least if she didn't come, he wouldn't need to worry about her. If she did go, of course he'd be thrilled to have more time with her, and outside of classes and school, but he'd also be on edge, trying to protect her from any potential harm, and plagued by not knowing what was going through her mind and how being back was affecting her.

"I think I'm going to stay here today," Hayden announced louder, though still quietly. Remus' heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach. It shouldn't be so disappointing, because he'd enjoyed most Hogsmeade outings for years, even before Hayden had spent much time with the marauders. Clearly she'd always spent more time with them than any of the other marauderettes, but it still hadn't been much.

"I'll stay with you," Lily volunteered quickly, but Remus knew it was useless. Hayden would never let one of them miss out on Hogsmeade just because she wasn't ready to go back, and especially not Lily.

"No, you should go," Hayden responded, matching Remus' prediction. "I'm going to spend some time in the library, so I'll be busy anyway."

Within minutes, Hayden excused herself for the library, leaving the rest of the Gryffindors to make their way to Hogsmeade without her. She spent her morning gathering and reading books that had any information on the Fidelius charm, digesting the information with excitement and interest. There was definitely a reason they didn't teach it at Hogwarts: it was the most complicated charm she'd ever laid eyes on. There was blood and ward magic involved in multiple stages, making it seem surprisingly ritualistic.

After Hayden thought she had the process and theory of the charm written down, she pulled out "Creating Wards of Protection". She skimmed through the book thoughtfully, before returning her other books and bringing it to Madam Pince. As she walked to the kitchens for lunch, already too late to eat in the Great Hall, her nose was in her book, inspecting the contents.

 _Protego Totalum - a protective charm for an area. Salvio Hexia - a charm to deflect hexes. Murum Silenti - a charm to make an imperturbable, soundproof barrier. Repello Muggletum - a charm to repel muggles. Cave Inimicum - a charm to hide the caster from sight, sound, and smell. Repello Inimicum - a charm to repel enemies. An impressive list to start practicing, I may need to buy this book actually. Let's see: protective, hex deflection, soundproofing. I should start with the imperturbable charm, that way I can test it easily and safely._

Images of Stormy attempting to hex her, while claiming he was "helping" her flashed through her mind, and solidified her plans to start her foray into casting wards with the imperturbable charm as she tickled her way into the kitchens.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Hey, Als. Remember that thing that you need to ask you-know-who about so we can plan the first time."

Marlene: ever the master of subtlety. Alice rolled her eyes at her friend's impatient reminder and nudge to the ribcage. Of course, Frank had heard. So now he was shooting her questioning looks, waiting for her to explain. So much for getting to it when it felt natural to bring it up. Alice shot hexes at Marlene with her eyes as she slowed down to trail the rest of the group with Frank. They walked behind the rest in silence, until they were far enough back to talk privately, at least mostly.

"So, Dumbledore had this mad idea that James and Lily are supposed to lead an army in this war," Alice summarized airily, earning a nod from Frank-he'd already surmised the reason they were head students-before she continued to outline their plans. "Well, Lily took that message to heart. Now she wants to start a dueling club, and Professor McGonagall is already onboard." Alice paused to look at her boyfriend, and caught another nod of agreement. He was a year older than them, but he was so observant that he probably knew her friends better than Alice did. "We really want to be ready, so we want Professor McGonagall, Professor Merrythought, Professor Flitwick, and you to all rotate through meetings, as our dueling coaches."

She left the question unasked, instead leaving Frank to digest their plans in silence for a few steps. While he mulled, Alice scanned over him, noting the many discernable changes from his last visit. He was more muscular now, and his jaw seemed more sculpted. It could be from the scrape across his cheek, or from the stubble he'd always kept at bay before-but Alice suspected it was for the same reason he seemed to stand taller now-Frank's auror training was hardening him. She was grateful that his bright blue eyes still held the same tender affection they always had.

"I won't go easy on you if I do this. And I don't know how often I'll be able to come in." Alice nearly jumped as he spoke, having been so entranced in her thoughts that she nearly forgot the question hanging between them. She absorbed his words quickly, hoping to hide her internal jump.

"That's why we want you, and we'll take you whenever you're free. It doesn't need to be all the time," she smiled through her words, before realizing that his face was still sharp and dark. Alice held him still and lowered her voice to ask, "Is it really that bad?"

"People are disappearing. And Moody's sure they're dead. Last week, one of the senior aurors went missing, and now Moody's insisting on more rigorous training. Every time aurors come back from the field, they have new injuries, but so far no one from my class has been sent out. It's only a matter of time, though." Frank's eyes darkened while he talked, but cleared as he returned to the present, focusing on Alice instead.

She pretended not to notice anything as the day continued, but her resolve was strengthened by the darkness veiling her boyfriend in that moment. She was joining in a war, and she'd be fighting until it was over, one way or another.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Their morning had been spent in awkward silence whenever they got too close to each other. No one knew what to say or how to find a safe middle ground with them, so they didn't try. Even Lily didn't try to converse with James, in part because every time he did speak near her he managed to piss her off, but mostly because she knew she had to admit she overreacted. It was going to be really, really hard. But as she glanced back at Frank and Alice, she knew Frank would have responded the same way had Alice been a muggleborn. And Lily would have been glad that her friend had found such a sweet and devoted boyfriend. It wasn't fair for her to be mad at James for it. Plus, she'd already concluded there was no way she could fault any of the boys for joining Remus on full moons.

Lily looked back at the couple chatting once more. She missed talking to James. It was time.

She caught up to where he led the group, joking with Peter and Remus, and waited for the laughter to die before interrupting. The tension returned between the four as soon as she said his name, and it lessened only slightly with James' nod to his friends. They drifted to the middle of the pack while Lily sorted through her thoughts to find the right words.

"I've been, well, wrong about a lot this week," Lily paused to brace herself with another deep breath. Merlin, this was hard to admit. "I overreacted a few times, and everything got out of hand. I'm sorry, James. I _do_ want you to protect me, and I love that you want to take care of me so badly. It's just, I still need to fight. You can't keep me out of it, even if that's how you want to keep me safe. I _need_ to fight. I _need_ to battle the bastards responsible for my parents. But," she paused for breath and emphasis, James _needed_ to know that she really meant every word she was saying, "I shouldn't be stupid about it, and going behind your back was being stupid. I should have waited for you. We're partners in this now. And as partners, you can't keep secrets from me. I get that you marauders are a team, and of course you need to be there for each other-it's the same as you and me needing to work together-but I'm on your team now too. So if you're doing something dangerous, like running around with a werewolf, I get to know. I need to know."

She took her eyes off the road in front of her as she stated her final words, and found him looking at her with wonder, surprise, and maybe confusion in his eyes. She'd caught the unflappable James Potter off-guard. For several seconds he said nothing, sending her nerves through the roof.

"Can you forgive me?" Lily's question seemed to wake James from his stunned stupor. He glanced back at his friends quickly before pulling her off the road to a stop and responding quietly.

"Only if you can forgive me. I was wrong too, I overreacted when you got so excited about fighting. Every time I think of you dueling deatheaters, I remember finding you frozen, and then I picture you as Hayden, before Bella kills you. Every time I imagine you fighting, you end up dying, and it kills me," he paused to take a shuddering breath. She watched him fight back tears by staring at her hands tucked within his. Just thinking about her death brought him to tears? She forced herself to stay still so he could let it all out, even though every fiber of her being wanted to comfort him, and remind him that she was right here, alive and well.

"Lils, I love you, and nothing scares me more than the idea of life without you. So, I'm sorry I overreacted. And I'm sorry I kept secrets. I'll never keep one again if it means I can be with you."

Lily withdrew one of her hands from his so she could touch his cheek, finally allowing herself to console him as she responded. "You made me love you. If you wanted to be single ever again, you shouldn't have done that."

She watched as her favorite smile returned to his lips, before she felt his arms wrap around her waist. Then he snogged her as though they had been apart for years, rather than a week. Tingles flooded through her body as they reconnected, reminding every toe, every finger, and every nerve in her body who she belonged to.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

A handful of house elves clustered around Hayden as she attempted to leave, resulting in her shooing them over 20 times by the time she escaped to the basement corridor. She set off with the second floor in mind, planning to find a classroom to start practicing in. Hayden was making her way to the castle's entrance hall when footsteps echoed below her and caught her attention.

Peeking over the balustrade in silence, Hayden watched as familiar silver-grey eyes darted across the corridor and the young man she grew up with strode through the opening. His strut was becoming a smooth glide, much less cocky than the way Walburga had raised him. He wasn't standing tall while he walked, either. Hayden descended to the turn in the stairs and glared after Regulus for a moment before following.

That bastard was up to something, and she was damn well going to find out what.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The table roared with laughter at the end of Sirius' story. What else was new? Peter laughed too, because Sirius was the funny one. Then Marlene kissed him, all doe-eyed and in love, probably because he was funny.

"See? You two are perfect for each other," Lily fawned. Girls loved love, there was no denying it.

"No way. You and James are better. So are Alice and Frank," Marlene responded. See? Girls loved love. All three partners met each other's eyes lovingly before kissing. It was so cliché that it was laughable. Meanwhile, Peter and Remus just had themselves. Peter downed his butterbeer, and slammed the glass down. He'd take any reason to get away from this lovefest of grossness, so he meandered back to the bar to take his time getting a new drink.

As he waited for Madame Rosmerta to take notice of him, a vaguely familiar blonde sat on the stool next to him, smiling brightly when he glanced at her. Peter returned with a timid smirk, before watching Madame Rosmerta again. The blonde continued to hover on her stool, silent for a moment before speaking hesitantly.

"Hi. I'm Emmeline." She beamed at him again as he nodded at her politely. Madame Rosmerta was still talking to people on the other side of the bar.

"You're Peter, right?" Emmeline asked with a cute tilt of her head. Her fingers began threading through her hair as she looked at him waiting for a response. So Peter nodded.

"Don't we have Transfiguration together?" Peter looked at her again, assessing if that's why she seemed familiar. That was part of it, but not all. She was right though, so he nodded again. Madame Rosmerta _still_ hadn't noticed him.

"I mean," Emmeline giggled briefly as she continued to play with her hair, "you probably never even notice anyone else, with friends like the Marauders."

Once more, the girl was interested in Peter's friends, not Peter. Apparently, even Ravenclaws idolized them.

"Yeah, they're pretty great," he groaned dejectedly, looking back at Madame Rosmerta. Emmeline continued to look at him and play with her hair as the barmaid finally made her way over and filled Peter's butterbeer. He raised his glass at the pretty blonde as he let out a mumbled farewell and returned to his friends.

He would never compare to mysterious Moony, with his dangerous scars and quiet nature that made girls think he was the tough one in the group. Nor would Peter ever live up to Prongs, the quidditch star who could transfigure anything and was 'dreamy', even though he only ever had eyes for Lily. And Peter would never stand a chance against Padfoot, the daring, loudmouthed rebel who could charm his way out of anything. Peter was no one next to them.

"Was that Emmeline? She's the kinda girl-," Marlene interrupted Sirius' inappropriate comment by clearing her throat. "I mean, she's pretty," he finished lamely.

"Yeah, and she was asking all about you guys," Peter's response was bitter and cold. The stifled chortles of his friends didn't help Peter's mood. They found his loneliness and invisibility funny. Maybe he needed something stronger than butterbeer.

"Pete," Alice was trying to soothe him. She always managed to see people's mood, and really didn't like when there was any kind of tension. So she felt the tension brewing from his bad mood, of course, and had to fix it. She was coddling him, trying to fix him. "She only had eyes for you."

What?

Peter's sour mood stilled as he tried to comprehend what Alice's words were getting at. He looked over to where Emmeline was still watching them.

"Mate!" Sirius barked at him, making Peter jump and illiciting another round of laughs from his friends. "Have you learned nothing from watching the master woo his lady?"

Sirius was gesturing towards Marlene. Were they trying to tell him they thought Emmeline was interested in him? His confusion must have shown on his face, because Lily was the next one to speak.

"Petey, she was flirting with you."

What?! He looked over at the Ravenclaw again, and she smiled brightly once more.

"Bu-but she was only talking about you guys."

"She was trying to get you to talk to her, so she talked about something she knew you liked, in this case your moronic friends," Marlene explained, earning a wounded expression from her boyfriend, before kissing him and rectifying the situation. Peter blinked at the affectionate display, still trying to process everything they were telling him.

Emmeline Vance was interested in him, Peter Pettigrew. Emmeline Vance, one of the hottest babes in their year, had a crush on him. He, the boring, invisible marauder, garnered Emmeline Vance's affections.

He wasn't invisible after all.

That thought perked him up considerably. He flashed a brilliant, charming smile-the kind he'd seen Sirius use so many times to catch a chick's eye-over at the Ravenclaw, just in time to watch her friends lead her out of the bar. She lingered at the door as long as she could though, grinning through her blush at Peter, until her friends dragged her away.

He heard his friends offer condolences of sorts, but it didn't matter. Peter wasn't invisible. There was a girl with a crush on him. For the first time, he had hope for getting a girlfriend.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Hayden ghosted down the passageway, hiding in the shadows of the dungeons. Regulus was still acting dodgy, checking over his shoulder and pausing every time he thought he heard something. She kept a decent following distance until he disappeared through a doorway. Hayden planned to catch up as far as the door, until she saw someone approaching. Darting behind a suit of armor, she waited and prayed she hadn't been seen. The bat-like shadow glided toward her for a moment, and she stood as still as she could, mentally begging her heart to stop beating so loudly. He stopped before he reached her hiding spot, thank Merlin, but as she peeked around the helmet blocking her view, her heart plummeted.

Snape and Regulus were in on whatever they were doing together. Hayden had been right all along.

She crept to the door they both disappeared behind, and listened closely. They were speaking quietly, and Snape had closed the door behind him so it was hard to make out what they were saying. Hayden continued to listen intently though, desperate to make out at least a few words.

Dark Lord… spell… without a cure… damage… please him… torture… cut... make it work...too shallow…

The words she was catching made little sense to Hayden, but she'd have time to sort out what they meant later. For now, she just needed to hear as much as she could. Unfortunately as she listened, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She quickly conjured a vial of lacewing fly wings, the first potions ingredient that popped into her mind, and turned back, beginning to return from whence she came. Hayden's first steps came just in time for Professor Slughorn to turn the corner.

"Ho-ho!" he greeted in his usual manner. "What brings a lioness down here on such a lovely Hogsmeade Saturday?"

Shit, there was no way the boys hadn't heard the potions master. She was so busted, but she hid her frustration and attempted to act casual as she responded.

"Didn't feel like Hogsmeade, so thought I'd get ahead on my potions studies. I ran out of wings though," Hayden charmed, holding up her vial with a brilliant smile. Hopefully the two sneaking snakes would believe her lie, along with Slughorn. The jolly professor seemed to at least, as he turned to walk with her. They talked potions as they made their way down the corridor, and she smiled and charmed him as naturally as she could.

But the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as Hayden felt eyes on her back. She'd been caught.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

 _She was surrounded by figures in dark robes. It was terrifying. She reached for her wand, but couldn't move. Her fear ratcheted up a notch and Lily felt her heart beat faster. She could hear her blood pumping through her ears. It was the only part of her that was moving, other than her eyes._ _ **Don't panic**_ _. The instructions echoing through her mind felt pointless as the hooded figures approached her, closing in around her. She could move her head now. Her hair whipped across her face, half blinding her while she searched for help. What happened to Hayden? Hayden was always there to protect her. Or James? James would never let anything happen to her._

 _There! Behind the masked characters stood James and Hayden… just watching. They weren't moving. They weren't fighting. They were just standing there and watching the dark shapes enclose and entirely trap her. Lily was alone. Terror gripped her entire body and panic took over. Her breathing shallowed as her chest ached, and she couldn't hear anything other than that pulsating pounding in her ears._

 _Then, the figure before her began to cackle. The sound was more chilling than the throbbing silence from before. Bellatrix's evil grin was finally visible within her black hood. Lily's heart stopped as the witch's malevolent laughter echoed through her brain. A wand appeared in front of Lily's face. This was it. She was going to die. But only after she was tortured. She tried to scream but no sound came out. Only Lestrange's deranged cackling could be heard, still echoing. Lestrange was going to kill her._

 _Panic was flooding through her. Lily's heart felt like a knife was piercing it with each breath she took. The edges of her vision were going dark. She couldn't get enough air and the wand was getting closer. Stars were dotting her vision now. Bellatrix's mouth formed the word "Crucio" while her cackle continued to echo._

Lily bolted upright, clutching her chest. It was a nightmare, that was all. As a tear leaked from her eye, she felt a shudder ripple through her body. It was just a dream. She was alright. She told herself those facts, but the fear from the nightmare still plagued her, as did the panic attack that'd been brewing when she woke. Her body convulsed in a few silent sobs before Lily managed to gather herself enough to leave her bed. As usual, her hand had found and gripped her wand in her sleep, even though in her dream it'd been impossible.

This nightmare had been more vivid than any she'd had in weeks, Lily realized as she crossed the shared space between staircases. As soon as she reached James' steps, she sprinted up them. She paused in the doorway to wake him, the way she had learned to.

"James?"

He grumbled groggily at her as he raised his chest from the bed to open a bleary eye at her. He saw the tears still slipping down her cheeks, and flopped to his back, patting the bed next to him. Lily fled her perch to find her usual comfort at his side. James immediately wrapped his muscled arm around her and pulled her close, helping her breathing and heart rate slow instantly.

"Was just a dream, Lils. No one will hurt you while I'm here," he slurred into her hair as she clung to his chiseled chest and nuzzled her tear-laden face into his shoulder. "I've gotchu, Lils. You're safe."

The soothing words formed by his husky voice helped even her breathing, but still Lily held James tightly, inhaling the natural, woodsy scent that meant she was safe. Bit by bit, her adrenaline stopped racing through her body, and her tears ceased to fall, until she was being lulled to sleep by the warmth of his body and the slight pressure of his cheek on her head. Lily was loved and safe, and that was all that mattered.

Lily didn't even notice the bed shift slightly before she was thrown awake by James' sudden movement and the lighting of his wand. She blinked dimly above her, trying to ascertain what had woken him so alarmingly. Sirius?

"Whoa, mate! It's just me, Pads!" It sounded like Sirius shouting, but why in Godric's name was he on James' bed with them? James' wand was still pointing at his friend's throat as Lily came to her senses enough to start soothing him. She rose to her knees next to him and began rubbing his back and pulling at his wand arm gently.

"What are you doing here, Pads?" James demanded quietly as he slowly lowered his wand arm. Only once previously had Lily seen him in battle mode: his jaw was clenched, his brow was furrowed, and his breathing was deep and measured. He was frightening.

"I thought you might be having nightmares again. Figured you could use some comforting," Sirius shrugged. _Oh, Merlin._ Lily was actually breaking up a romance, not coming between two friends. Holy harpies, this was sick.

"I'm fine, but maybe Moony needs you," James dismissed as he tucked his wand under his pillow. Lily caught the flash of hurt across Sirius' face before she realized it was a brother thing. _Sirius_ had the nightmares, and James had always been there for him. It was sweet. And now James was even covering for him. Lily watched Sirius leave the room, uncharacteristically silent, before she turned back to James with a sweet smile. This man was one she could love, one she could even spend the rest of her life with. Lily pressed a long kiss to his lips before curling up beside him once more, and drifting into dreams alongside him.


End file.
